


HeartFreeze

by DawnsEternalLight, Laquilasse (laquilasse)



Series: Of Lightning and Scales [1]
Category: Batman (Comics), Batman - All Media Types, DCU (Comics)
Genre: AU, Alfred is a Wizard, As close to canon as possible with fantasy, Bruce is also Fantasy Batman, Bruce is king of fantasy Gotham, Canon-Typical Violence, Cass is a shapeshifter, Cold, Damian is dragon born, Damian is half dragon, Dick is half fey half elf, Dragons, Fantasy AU, Freezing, Gen, Ice, Jason is half orc and a ranger, Magic, Mostly Gen, Princes, Royalty, Slight Dick/Babs, Tim is human, dragon - Freeform, dragon attack, honestly its just fantasy and the batfam and they rule Gotham, prince - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-22
Updated: 2019-05-07
Packaged: 2019-05-10 01:58:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 33,542
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14727800
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DawnsEternalLight/pseuds/DawnsEternalLight, https://archiveofourown.org/users/laquilasse/pseuds/Laquilasse
Summary: Damian knew something was wrong. He'd been feeling it for weeks. Still, when Dick is taken by a frost dragon he wastes little time with I-told-you-so's and instead tries his best to rescue his brother before he freezes to death, or worse-is forced to try 'true love's kiss' on a woman he doesn't even know.





	1. Alarm

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Batfam Fantasy AU](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/382826) by Laquilasse. 



> Toni aka the great Laquilasse started talking about a fantasy AU forever ago, and has created some incredible art for it that you can find on her blog. http://laquilasse.tumblr.com/
> 
> I fell in love with the idea immediately. We got to chatting about it and this fic (among others to come) was born from it. We've worked really hard on world building and fleshing out this au for the Batfam to live in and we hope you enjoy it, because we had a blast working on it. 
> 
> There is little preamble or introduction in this particular fic, so crash course is as follows: Everything is the same except its in a fantasy setting where Bruce is king of Gotham and his kids are royalty. This story isn't based on a specific canon story and takes place somewhere in the place of everyone knows each other and generally likes each other. 
> 
> Races are as follows: Bruce is human Dick is half fey half elf, Jason's a ranger and half orc, Tim is human, Cass can shapeshift into a cat, Damian is half dragon (and yes Talia is the dragon half of that), Steph is a witch, and Alfred is a Wizard.

The sun was warm enough to seep through Damian’s scales, sinking through their protective shielding to set his whole body humming with heat as he lay stretched out in a patch of sunlight. It was the kind of warmth on the outside that seemed to match his fire inside. He was happy that spring had finally arrived to replace the brutal winter they’d faced. If he had learned anything in his first year with Father, it was how much he despised the cold.

The cold of desert nights was far different from the constant cold his father’s kingdom faced in the winter. Damian missed the cool nights that broke burning days, the weather never so cold it penetrated the warmth Damian himself radiated, beyond a slight chill. But winter here had froze him. Chilled his insides in seconds, and made Damian hunt for warmer clothes to wear, and hide in the safe walls of the castle, nestled by fires. Mother had not warned him of the changes in weather. Though, Mother had not warned Damian of much when she had sent him to live with his father. The warnings had been less about his father and more about her’s. The dangers of being half dragon in a land where strength was paramount, and weakness-such as humanity-was frowned on. 

“I bet the horses are glad to see us after so many days of being stuck inside.” Richard said, making Damian turn his gaze to his brother. 

Richard was laying next to him, eyes closed against the sun shining on them. The horses were tied up close by, munching on the fresh spring grass. They had ridden out to a glade first thing that morning for lunch and the simple excuse that the day was nice. 

His brother opened his eyes to beam at him, a bright smile that seemed to have nothing to do with the horses, and more to do with being with Damian. It sent embarrassed flutters through his chest and he was happy his dragon form didn’t show a blush. His brother was an idiot. Overexcited by something like spending time with someone. Still, his brother’s affection warmed him more than the sun did. 

“Tt. They are probably more excited to have something to do than by us ourselves.” 

Richard chuckled, “They have been about as cooped up as we have, haven’t they?” 

Damian nodded. He opened his mouth to respond when he felt a chill race down his spine, his hackles rose as he sensed something. Damian froze, ears pricked for sound, mind open to feel what had set off his senses. Something was coming. Something cold. And hard. And cruel. 

It was a presence Damian had felt for a week now. One that had been circling closer and closer to his Father’s lands. He had not recognized it in the first few days, beyond it being dragon, but as it inched its way in, the truth had grown more and more clear. Ice and snow, a chill in his chest when he felt it returning. A frost dragon. 

He leapt to his feet, his heart racing, “Richard, we must return, now.” 

Richard’s smile turned into a frown, “What’s wrong? What do you mean go back? We only just got here, Damian.” 

“The castle, we need to go to the castle. It is the safest place. Stand up and get your horse. Call back the guards, we have to go.” Damian could feel it, him, coming closer, all the warmth from his sunbathing gone as his body reacted to the presence coming close. “Something is coming, and I believe it is a frost dragon.” 

His brother was frowning at him, sitting up at least, but he didn’t look ready to move fast enough. Damian would have to make him move. He felt for the fire inside him and willed it smaller, a licking flame in his belly that made room for his human form to grow and change. Scales were replaced with skin, and Damian felt the heavy weight of his travel gear resting on his shoulders and back instead of the light fluttery sensation of wings. He took the two steps needed to reach Grayson and grabbed his hands, pulling him up. 

“We have got to go,  _ now _ .” 

“Dames, the horses would know if there was danger coming. They’d sense that right away.” Richard said, but he was sitting up now, his frown deep. “Besides, Bruce sent out sentries the last time you said one was coming, and they couldn’t find anything.” 

Of course they had found nothing. If the dragon was smart enough to be moving in their direction as slowly as it had been, then they would not be so foolish as to be caught by castle guards. Damian had told his father this, and the dangers of the dragon but no one would listen. His credibility seemed gone with the single deployment. 

Damian shook his head, “I can feel him. We need to leave. If he sees us out here there is no guarantee he will not attack, and the few guards we brought are not strong enough to protect you. The castle is the safest place to be.” 

At last, his brother stood, concern written on his face, “Damian, I know you can sense a lot of things, but are you sure? I mean, maybe it’s just something left over from winter, a cold you can’t shake?” 

Damian’s hands were still in Richard’s, the warmth of their palms against each other always surprised him, even as a light scattering of scales still separated them. Many things about Richard still surprised Damian, and if he let this dragon attack them in the open he may never have the chance to get used to them. 

“If it does not arrive within the hour we can return to our picnic. Please, let us act with caution.”  His mind was humming with the cold, the presence of the other dragon a pressing weight at the back of it. 

Richard nodded, slowly, and began rounding up the guards. They were not too far from the castle, but this was the closest Damian had ever felt the dragon’s presence before and it scared him. It was coming for something, and Damian would not let his brother be caught in the crossfire. 

They mounted their horses and took them at a gallop back to the castle. The pressure in Damian’s head growing with every footfall of their horses. The dragon would not be circling today. It had decided to make it’s play for whatever it was searching for. Clouds were rolling in, and the temperature dropped with their arrival. Damian could feel his core warming up in response, combating the chill in the air. 

They crashed onto castle grounds as a roar broke through the air, shaking the horses into an almost panic. They pulled to a stop, and Damian and Richard jumped off their horses, heading for the walls. Guards were scrambling as Damian pushed past them climbing to the top of one of the walls, Richard was beside him, his body humming with energy.

Damian could feel the sparks coming off him, could sense the power building up in preparation for a fight. He pulled his bow from his back, knocked an arrow, and planted his feet, his eyes on the sky above them. 

The frost dragon dove from the clouds, a burst of shimmering blue and ice and fog. The air trailed behind it, freezing puffs of cloud and swirling into tiny storms as cold hit warm. It was huge. Almost as large as grandfather, and would dwarf Damian if he were in dragon form. His horns curled round and round upon themselves, black as night and scattered with icicles. 

Beside him he heard Richard gasp, “It’s Freeze.”

“Freeze?” Damian asked, glancing over at him. 

“He terrorized the country a few years ago, The Batman ran him off, and he was supposedly happily tucked away in the northern mountains.” 

Freeze roared again, and sent out a burst of freezing air from its mouth, catching hapless birds that had no idea what to expect in its wake, freezing them solid in an instant, and making them fall like stones.

Damian scoffed, “Well he does not seem happy now.”

Richard’s hands sparked to life, bright arching blue electricity dancing across his palms. He glanced at Damian, his expression serious.

“Sorry I doubted you, kiddo.”

“It is fine, simply keep yourself safe.” Damian said, “We do not know what it is here for, but I can assure you, despite the apparent rampage, it has come for something.” 

If Father had driven him off it was possible Freeze had run out of food wherever he’d made his new home and had come for that. He may also simply be in want of more jewels. The hungry fire of need coursing through him in a way that was almost impossible to resist. Damian had seen dragons fly into certain death driven by that need. Whatever it was, Freeze was a danger to the kingdom and castle. To the family Damian was finally starting to find his place in. He would not let Freeze take that from him. Would not let some invader come in and take what was Damian’s. 

Freeze dove at the castle, breathing ice, and freezing stone. Arrows flew at him, glancing harmlessly off his scales. Damian would have to speak to Father about arming the castle's defenses with something more piercing if they were to have dragon attacks again. Freeze turned, and swung his tail, slamming it against one of the far walls, shaking the structure, and taking down a portion of it, sending guards flying.   

Richard swore, and aimed a bolt of lightning at Freeze as the dragon moved in for a second attack at the wall. The air lit up, hot and burning against the chill, and blue electricity hit Freeze from above. 

He pulled up from its assault, roaring as he darted away. Richard sent another volley of lightning after him, arcs and arcs chasing the dragon into the sky. Lightning arched away from his brother in regular waves at Freeze, and Damian refused to be outdone. His body ached to change form, to face the dragon as one himself. The fire in his stomach bubbling and churning in response to Freeze’s presence. It would be foolish to change now with him so far away, Damian could not close the distance between the two of them, and even if he could what use would he be if Freeze was not worn down yet?

He pulled the bow back towards him and redirected the fire in his stomach to a new goal. He built up enough to spit a burst of flame out towards the arrow. The tip caught, metal heating up, the fire already greedy and searching for the shaft. 

Damian aimed, feeling the air, accounting for the wind, and what movement Freeze’s wings would cause, and shot hoping to hit a soft spot where the flames could take hold and do some actual damage. He let his arrows follow Richard’s lightning, fire and thunder arching together to add together into something at least a little stronger. 

Freeze looped and dodged through the air, taking and missing some hits. All the while breathing ice down on soldiers. Next to him, Damian could feel Richard’s agitation and worry, his desire to pull Freeze away from the men below and keep them safe. 

Damian knew it would happen before it did. Richard sent a huge bolt of lightning at Freeze, long and lingering enough for the dragon to turn it’s head and lock onto them. He screamed his fury and flew at them. 

Damian locked eyes with him, and could see the need there, the driving desire to have, to claim. Worry for Richard burned his chest. Not that Freeze would attack, but that he was the goal. That Richard was why Freeze had come. But that was silly. What dragon came for a prince? Still, his fingers tightened around his bow and he took a step forward to place himself ever so slightly in front of his brother.

“Be careful.” Damian said, “I am not sure his attention is simply anger.” 

He turned his gaze up to see the tight set to Richard’s mouth, he was watching Freeze’s approach and nodded “Alright then. Let’s see what he really cares about, and maybe get him out of the way of hurting any more guards while we’re at it.”

“That does not seem like a good plan.” Damian said, but his brother had already started down the wall, towards a large tower, empty of guards as they tried to clear any injured from the last attack and regroup for the next.

“Idiot!” Damian growled, and ran after him.

Richard threw bolts of lightning at Freeze, leading him up to the tower as they climbed. Damian positioned himself in front of his brother when they reached the top, bow in hand and aimed, even if Freeze didn’t seem to be slowing with an of Damian’s shots.

He could feel it now, his mind buzzed with Freeze’s intention. Richard was in danger. Richard was his and he wouldn’t let some frost dragon think he could swoop in on Damian’s home and go after Damian’s family.  

“You need to get down and inside!” Damian snapped back at his brother, moving now into a protective stance in front of him. 

“And miss all the action? No way.” He could hear the grin in his voice, but Damian refused to take his eyes off Freeze.

He was closing in on them, wings cutting through the air pushing it straight at the tower they were on. Freezing air whipped around them, catching Damian’s hair into a wild mess. If Richard wasn’t leaving then Damian would have to make Freeze leave. He aimed, picking out where he knew the frost dragon’s weakest point would be, lit his arrow on fire again, and let it fly. The arrow dug into the soft scales of Freeze’s underarm, eliciting a roar of pain, and an immediate retaliation of freezing air shot at them. Electricity crackled behind Damian, ozone biting at his nose as the air turned to steam and mist. 

Neither attack stopped the frost dragon from landing, the tower shaking under his weight, and charging at them. It ducked as lighting arched towards him again, freezing breath cutting it off mid leap. 

Damian shot again, and again, but Freeze was getting too close. Richard’s electricity spent more time vaporizing ice then hitting the dragon. Damian dropped his bow and ripped his sword from its sheath then swore viciously when he realized which one he was carrying. It would be useless, the metal too weak to pierce the dragon’s scales properly. Why hadn’t he thought to bring the one designed for this kind of battle? He had known something was coming, and yet he’d allowed himself to be lulled into a false sense of security by the nice day and promise of relaxation. 

He threw the sword down and turned back to Richard, “Get inside the castle. As deep as you can go, he’s here for you and you can’t let him take you.” he shouted, then without waiting for a response turned back to the dragon and let the burning fire inside him take hold, everything tightening and burning, scales cutting off the freezing wind and his wings catching against the air. 

He hissed and charged, he was small, but that did not mean he was unable to fight. His claws could dig past the frost dragon’s scales, and his fire would do damage if he could get close enough. All he had to do was make himself enough of a distraction so Richard could get away. That, at least, he could manage. 


	2. Burning Hands

Dick shouted at Damian to stop as his brother made himself even smaller and more of a target by changing into his dragon form. He breathed a small jet of flame at Freeze, burning away at the dragon’s leg. The fire glinted off Damian’s copper scales, making him look like a ball of flame himself. But the flame was too small. Damian was too small. Everything was too small. Damian was a child, a mere percent of Freeze’s size, and his flame was still growing. Half the time he couldn’t even control it. 

Dick readied another bolt of lightning, this one aimed at Freeze’s face. He didn’t care that he should run, he refused to leave Damian to fight Freeze by himself, to be killed in a fight he’d never have a chance of winning. He didn’t have a clear shot as Damian ducked and dodged Freeze’s swiping claws, and combated the air with his own fire. 

There was a moment, a split second Dick could have thrown his bolt, but a claw caught Damian in the side, then slammed down on him, pinning him beneath it. Fury surged through Dick, and in turn the bolt of lightning he’d caught swelled in size as he made to aim it at Freeze, stun him, get Damian away, and run.

“Throw it, and the child dies.” Freeze’s voice was cold, and gravley, there was something excited in his tone. Like he wanted Dick to attack. Like he’d be happy to kill Damian and take Dick away, kicking and screaming as his brother lay broken beneath them.

Damian squirmed, tail beating the air in a futile attempt to get out from under the heavy claw. “Do not listen to him, Richard.” Damian commanded, his tone wheezy but firm. Freeze pressed down harder, making Damian gasp in pain, any other protests dying with the added pressure on his body.

Dick hesitated, he might have time to stun Freeze, especially if he was already distracted, then he could pull Damian away and-- it happened almost as if the world were being frozen by Freeze’s ice. His claw descended, digging into Damian’s back, popping off one scale, then two, and a whole scattering of brilliant red drenched bronze shattering into the wind. The bolt in Dick’s hand died as Damian whimpered, the pressure against his lungs being pushed against the ground not leaving room to even build a scream.

Damian struggled to free himself, his breathing ragged gasps creating puffs of steam from his nostrils in tiny bright bursts one after another. His eyes were squeezed shut as his claws scraped desperate scratches into the stone under him as the one in his back stilled.

“Damian!” Dick bolted forward, not even sure what he would do when he got there, his attention on the trembling boy trapped beneath the claw. 

He didn’t see the net until it was on him, descending like molten lava from the sky. Thin strands of iron stretched like cord and twisted into a tight net that pressed down on him, sweeping exhaustion and fire over every sense. Dick pushed, hands and face burning where the iron grazed them. Dick’s breath caught in his throat, bottled by terror. Then Freeze jumped into the air, jerking the net tight around Dick’s body. It was like he’d been caught in a wave of fire, crashing and pressing against every inch of exposed flesh tossing him painfully as they rose. The heat of it all was already seeping through his light tunic. 

His mind whited out at the pain, vision blurring and blackening and going bright. Like looking into a fire before tumbling into it. Hot burning pain raced down his neck as the cords of the net pressed tightly against it, threatening to sever his head from his body. He’d welcome it, welcome the relief from this assault on all sides. He thought he was screaming, the sound distant and roaring in his ears. His mind held onto one thing, escape. He tried to push himself away from the net. He scrambled and gripped, pulling at it in an attempt to find some space, any space that didn’t burn, his palms felt like they had been dipped in flame, the skin blistering and popping, tearing open. Finally he managed to curl into a tight ball that hid most of his exposed skin, his throat was raw, his chest heaving to catch his breath in this semblance of stillness. His face pressed close to his chest, neck tilted as far from the iron as he could get it, he pressed his torn hands close to his chest willing the pain away with pressure. 

Below there was a strangled furious cry and he managed to wrench his eyes open to see Damian, struggling to his feet, and yelling after them, charging for the edge of the tower before leaping. Dick wanted to tell him to stop, but he was having a hard enough time keeping from crying out again. All he could do was watch as Damian fluttered, his wings not yet strong enough to carry him far, dipping for a moment, then rising, and finally tumbling to the ground. Dick’s fingernails dug into his tunic as he had to keep himself for reaching out, for fighting with the net again, to try to get away, get back to Damian, to try and get back to a home that was rapidly disappearing into clouds.

At some point he passed out, whether from the pain or change of atmosphere, the air thinning to gasps, he wasn’t sure. The blackness was comforting, a lull that pulled him in and promised oblivion instead of pain.

He woke to a resounding ache in his body, a heaviness brought on by extended time around iron. All he wanted was to fall back asleep. To find a place in the sun, curled on soft grass, and surrounded by the sights and smells of the forest, and sleep away the exhaustion and pain. 

Claws clicking on stone and the slight rustle of wings, leather shifting against scales, teased his brain into wakefulness, yet couldn’t tempt him to open his eyes. He wondered what Damian was doing in his room and why he wasn’t by his side. When Dick was hurt, which had to be the reason for the pain everywhere, he tended to stay as close as possible. One time Dick had woken to his brother, curled up on his stomach, his claws digging into the blankets covering Dick so no one could try to get close if Damian didn’t approve of them first.

The click and clack of the nails sounded heavier, louder than they normally did. Beneath the pain was the uncomfortable feeling of tightness in his back Dick sometimes got from laying on stone too long or hard ground while travelling. A deep rumble from the dragon made Dick’s eyes blink open, realizing that this was not Damian even as he took in Freeze’s hulking form shuffling around a cave. 

Dick was careful not to move, not that he really wanted to, the last thing he wanted was for Freeze to realize he was awake. He took slow stock of his surroundings, the cave was large and freezing, ice seemed to coat most of the stone, and there was one area that seemed completely made of ice, the glowing blue light of day trapped tantalizingly behind it, promising Dick that Freeze was more than prepared to make sure he did not escape. 

The air in the cave was freezing, though he’d been deposited on top of a pelt of some type. Dick wondered if that was a concession allowed only so he wouldn’t freeze to death, or if Freeze thought the single pelt would do anything beyond keep the chill of the floor from sucking the warmth from Dick while he slept. Whatever reason, it seemed to say that Dick was not to be eaten, at least not immediately, and for that he could be thankful. 

Every second he lay there the cold around him seemed to creep deeper into his skin, fighting to find the blood in his veins and stop it. His body rejecting the idea as he shivered despite himself. And still he didn’t want to move. Exhaustion and pain seemed held at bay by his lack of movement. From the twitch of a finger he was reminded at how the iron had burned his hands, and face, his neck--the memory was enough to make him want to curl closer to the ice just to escape it. 

He wanted Batman to come. Wanted the ice wall separating Dick from the outside world to shatter under his father’s fury as he stormed in. More than that, he wanted Bruce. He wanted to be held close to his dad’s warm chest, and listen to soft murmurings of comfort. He wanted the worried way Bruce used to scoop him up when he’d accidentally come in contact with iron, the strong grip his dad had to keep him away from the hated metal. The gentle fingers applying ointment and wrapping gauze. Dick allowed himself to curl a little closer in on himself. He wanted to go home. 

He lay there listening to Freeze shuffle around the cave, his own eyes squeezed shut in an attempt to pass out again. The cold didn’t seem to want to let him, not seeping enough to lull him to sleep, but doing the opposite, stealing any rest he might even get from laying there by setting his whole body to shivering. 

He had to move, he decided, or freeze to death. At least he could get up and wrap the pelt around himself. If he was allowed that. If he was not eaten the moment he stirred and returned himself to Freeze’s memory. He wondered which were better: being eaten or frozen alive. 

He sat up, and almost instantly regretted it. Everything burned again, a muted duller version of the pain from the iron, but a burn all the same. Where he didn’t hurt, he was stiff from the floor. His hands protested every movement from his pressing them into the pelt to anchor himself, to his raising them for examination. Red lines that could only be imprints from the net crisscrossed and cut over his palms. The skin was puckered and swollen around blisters that had burst and then been cooled by the cave. They were, he hoped, the worst of his injuries. 

“You are awake.” Freeze’s voice rumbled through the cave, stopping Dick’s self examination. 

He looked up to see the dragon’s head turned towards him. Eyes like that glowing wall of ice examined him for a moment before he nodded.

“Stand, boy.” 

Dick bristled at that, he wasn’t quite a boy anymore, even if he were young by fey standards. He tamped down his irritation at the memory of his brush with Ra’s and how ancient he’d seemed. Freeze felt younger than that, but still older than most people currently in Dick’s life. Certainly, much older than he was. There were no obvious bones cluttering the cave, but Dick was sure that any irritating aimed wrongly might make his end come before Bruce could find him. Following Freeze’s orders should keep Dick alive for at least a short period.  

“What? Is it easier to eat me while standing?” Dick asked, still unsure he could even follow the order to stand, and hedging for a moment to gather himself. 

The dragon scowled at him, a look so like and unlike Damian’s scowls that it sent a pang through Dick’s chest. He had no way of knowing how injured Damian was from Freeze’s attack. There had been so much blood, and still his little brother had tried to fly after them. The pang tightened against his ribs, Damian had fallen, not fluttered or caught himself, but he had fallen and Dick hadn’t even seen if he’d landed or tumbled against the hard ground below the tower they’d been on. He was tough, Dick had to remind himself. Those scales worked for something, and he should be fine. 

“I did not bring you hear to eat you, Princling.” Freeze told him, “If that had been my intention I would not have bothered the effort to carry you anywhere. Stand, and I will show you your duty.” 

“A job then.” Dick said, still firmly planted on the pelt, “You should have just asked.”

The scowl turned to a sneer, “Yes, a job. One that if you are unable to complete, will result in my reminding myself what fey flesh tastes like.”

Dick swallowed, the hope that had flared for a moment plummeted and he couldn’t stop himself from imagining what poor creature had last been Freeze’s meal. He moved to push himself to his feet, bracing his hand to the wall behind him, only to drop a moment later as pain lanced its way up his arm. He gasped, pressing it close to his chest. 

Freeze growled, the sound shaking the floor beneath Dick, his impatience making irritation rise in Dick’s hazy mind. 

“I’d be faster if someone hadn’t torn me apart with iron.” he snapped. 

A freezing burst of air blasted him, pushing both he and the pelt back against the wall as Freeze growled, “Get up.”

The want to escape the cold was enough of a prompt to make him try again. This time he attempted to stand without assistance, swaying when he made it to his feet, his head spinning from the action. He dared not lean back against the wall again, but took a moment to breathe, his eyes squeezed shut against everything as he willed the roaring in his head to quiet, and the throbbing of his palm to settle. 

“Enough. Come or I will find another prince to take your place. Perhaps the child you were so worried about? Or the other one, the human boy. Neither seem as treasured as you, but they are princes nonetheless and will suffice.” 

This sent a spike of fear that drove the pain to the back of Dick’s mind, his eyes snapping open. “No.” he said, “I’m here. I can do it.” 

The cave was larger than Dick had thought, stretching out beyond his initial scope, and digging deeper back. It seemed to get colder the further he followed Freeze, and he wondered if this was all a ploy just to move him somewhere he’d be kept fresh by the chill until Freeze could find the time to eat him. He wrapped his arms around himself, happy for sleeves, and wishing he’d worn something more substantial than the spring tunic and it’s light fabric designed for chilly mornings and warm afternoons. 

Belatedly he remembered his riding gloves, tucked in the side of his belt. He hadn’t had time to put them on in the rush of Freeze’s attack. Dick tugged them from his belt and eased one on over a hand, then another, wishing he’d had them on hours earlier. At least now they could provide some warmth and protection for his torn hands. Once they were on he returned his arms to their place against his chest, hands tucked under his arms against the cold. 

He was afraid of everything going dark the further they went in, but his fears were abated by bits of sun dancing down from the cave’s roof, holes above him letting rays glitter and reflect off the ice. He saw one opening that looked like it just might fit him if he could find time enough to attempt an escape. He couldn’t see much ahead of him beyond Freeze’s bulk. It was only when they stepped into another huge cavern that Dick could see anything beyond blue scales, glittering in reflected light. 

This cavern was even bigger than the one they’d come from. It was colder as well, the temperature dropping again as soon as Dick stepped in. His teeth were chattering, and he had to keep taking in deep breaths to try and still his body from shaking out of his skin. From what he could tell, the room was empty. One huge room of ice and stone. 

Then Freeze stepped to the side and Dick’s eyes widened at the sight. There was a woman laying on a table made of ice. Her skin was blue, hair a liquid halo around her head. Her dress dripping with icicles. A claw pushed him forward from behind, and Dick stumbled closer. He could see flecks of ice and snow in her hair and on her eyelashes. Her skin seemed to shimmer, and as Dick leaned forward he could see a thin sheen of frost covering her entire body. 

Up close he could tell she wasn’t anywhere near human. Sharp cheekbones, clawed fingers, and an unearthly beauty told him she was a Nymph, most likely a water one, if she wasn’t just blue from the ice. 

“Wake her.” Freeze rumbled. 

Dick started, spinning to blink at him, “What?” he asked. 

A puff of air blew his hair back as Freeze huffed, “Has the cold frozen your ears? I said wake her. A prince’s kiss will wake a sleeping maid.” 

It sounded like he’d read that in a book or heard it from some seer who’d only sputtered the words to keep himself alive. There were many ways to break curses, kisses could be involved, but off the top of his head all Dick could think of was true love. He did not love this woman. He didn’t even know her. That put him kissing her out of his ability. He honestly had no idea what to do to wake her. 

He couldn’t say, 'sorry Freeze I can’t kiss her'. Neither could he actually attempt it. Either of those would get him eaten in a moment. One word, then gulp good bye Dick Grayson. What he needed was time, not to figure out how to wake her, but time for Bruce to find him. Freeze’s general location was well enough known, they kept tabs on him as a possible threat. Bruce would be there in a few days, all he needed to do was hold out that long. 

“I could.” he started, “But if I kissed her now it would not work.”

“Explain.” 

Dick motioned towards the woman, “To start, she’s a water nymph right?” he paused long enough for Freeze to nod, he gave his own, sharp and commanding, “Right. Then you must also be aware that I am half wood elf. Our magics don’t mix well, and a kiss from me would not be effective.” 

Freeze growled, taking a step forward. Dick held both hands out, “Hold on.” he said. 

“That is not to say that it will not work.” his mind was racing for a good date to set an attempt on. “The one time our magics can combine is during a full moon with a clear sky.” he said, “It is the Earth’s way of saying the two are connected during this time. It’s the best chance for--” he paused not knowing her name. 

“Nora.” Freeze answered, tapping a claw. The sound echoed through the room, each successive tap bouncing after the next. 

Quicker than Dick would have imagined Freeze’s face was in his, the dragon’s breath ice on his skin, eyes piercing, “If you are lying, Princling, know your death will not be swift, but long and painful.” 

Dick held his gaze, “You wanted a prince to wake her, well I’m a prince and I know the rules. It is the only time that will work. Even my brothers would have stipulations to the timing.” he said, praying he sounded as confident as he needed to. 

“Fine. We will wait until the full moon. It rises in three days, and at that point if you cannot wake her--”

“I know, I know. Death. Of the long and painful variety.” Dick said, “Now can we go back into the other room? If I stay here any longer I’ll freeze to death before we hit the end of day one.”   


	3. Suggestion

Damian couldn’t breathe. His body felt frozen, his back burned with pain, and his chest was bruised from where the frost dragon had shoved it into stone. Everything ached from the fall to the ground, but what hurt most were Richard’s screams in his ears. 

The guttural, heart wrenching, wail echoed in his head and bounced against the pain telling Damian he deserved it and more for letting Freeze take his brother. For failing. For being the weak link that kept Richard from running and forced him to stay and be captured. 

There were voices shouting around him, and Damian didn’t want to get up, he wanted to curl in on himself and shut everything out until Richard’s voice stopped filling his head. He wanted to jump up and chase after them, to save his brother, to fix this terrible mistake. 

Hands found him, turned him over off his back, and cradled his head. Damian blinked up at his father, face unreadable between the worry, fear, and fury. He was saying something but Damian couldn’t hear, his head awash again with Richard’s scream. 

He shook his head, pulling from the hands, “He’s gone.” he choked, “He’s gone. Freeze took him, I could not stop him.” 

Father went to lift him up, but Damian jerked away, finding unsteady balance on his own legs, his wings instantly lifting in an attempt at protecting the injury tucked between them. 

His head spun, woozy and sick, but he was too angry seeing his father, Cassandra, and Timothy crowded around him. 

A snarl rose from his throat, “Where were you?” he growled at them, “We were attacked and I saw none of you.” He was furious and terrified. His chest was so cold and hurt so much he couldn’t muster the flame he wanted to spit. His stomach was sick with worry and pain, his wings doing little to protect the wound on his back, the wind making it burn as it blew across it.

“Damian, calm down.” Father’s voice was stern, steady. “We tried to get up there in time.” 

“You should have tried harder. He took him and you all let him. No one was here to help. No one  _ listened _ to me and he is gone.” Damian made to step forward but it pulled at his back and renewed the pain there, driving the sick deeper into his stomach and making his feet stumble. 

Father caught him, steadying him. He seemed to know Damian would reject another attempt at carrying him, and his hands retreated as quickly as they’d moved to hold him. 

“We will get Dick back, Damian. I promise. But I need to know the details of what happened.” he said.

“We do not have time for details. You know what you need, Richard was taken and we have to go now!” Damian said, his wings flapping to try and give him some kind of air, why couldn’t he just be able to  _ fly? _ The movement sent his back burning worse than it had and he did fall this time, in a heap. He had to hold back a sob of frustration. He would not admit it was the pain pricking his eyes, only the anger and fear for his brother, “He is getting away.” 

Bruce turned to the guards and began shouting orders, directing them to begin searching the perimeter, finding those injured, and mobilizing. Timothy and Cassandra split from his side to join the crowd. It was distant to Damian, whose only focus was on his brother, whose voice was back in his head screaming again. 

Father turned back to him, his eyes narrowing, “You’re hurt.”

Damian tried to stand again, “We need to go.” 

“You will not be going anywhere until someone has seen to your injury.” Bruce said, “Can you change back? Leslie will have an easier time with that wound if you can.” 

Damian took the words as a promise. They would go after Richard. Father would not let him die. Damian would join them after he had seen the doctor, perhaps she could dull the pain long enough for him to fight again. 

He nodded and let himself shift again, focusing everything on the fire in his stomach. He soothed it, and tightened it so his body would shift. Everything ached, and sent pain through his chest that threatened to ruin his concentration and stop the change. He pushed through and stood. He held his balance for one second, two, then stumbled and fell into Father’s arms. 

Damian was always surprised by how warm his family was. Mother and Grandfather might breathe fire, but there was no warmth in their embrace. No feeling seeping through his scales to bolster the fire in him. Father’s arms were always warm even against his scales, but so much more so when he was in his human form. Richard was the same way, and Damian found it comforting. Not that he would tell any of them that, it would not do for him to be seen as someone who relied on touch like Richard did. He could not be seen as soft in any way. Mother would never approve of it.

Father lifted him, hooking his arms under Damian’s legs. This time he did not argue. They would go after Richard soon. His brother would be safe. He could allow for a moment of being held if it took him to being healed so he could right his wrong. He lifted his arms to wrap them around Father’s neck, but the movement pulled at the wound on his back and he dropped them, settling for gripping at Father’s tunic. 

“It already looks shallower than it did.” Father mused, his attention on Damian’s back and the jagged line running down it. 

“I am bigger this way, so it would be.” Damian murmured, he was tired, the fight and pain and terror all coalescing into exhaustion as he found himself warm. 

Father hummed, and Damian caught a look of interest on his face. If the situation were anything but dire he had a feeling Father would comment again on how fascinating Damian was, and how he adored every new thing he learned about him. But it situation was bad, and there was no time to fawn over the way Damian’s body adapted to one form or another. 

“You will still need sutures. What happened?” 

Damian pressed his face closer to Father’s tunic as shame ate at him, “Freeze.” he said, “He held me down with a claw and stabbed me when Richard was about to attack. It distracted Richard long enough for Freeze to capture him.” 

Richard’s screams echoed again in Damian’s mind, prompting him to squeeze his eyes shut. What was Freeze already doing to him? How was he treating him? How long would it take them to mount an assault? It could not be long, not if they wanted a chance at saving him. Damian did not believe that Freeze wanted to eat his brother, but if he failed him in any way, Damian did not doubt that he would be killed. The sooner they saved him, the less chance there was of finding him in pieces. 

Father dropped him off at the medical tent. He submitted to the pain numbing potion Healer Tompkins pressed on him only after a look from Father. He hated the potion and any like it, they made him drowsy and it was hard to change for a few hours after he’d taken one, his mind foggy and his body slow. Still, it dulled the ache in his back and made the sting of the needle bearable. More of a gift than he was sure Richard had been given by Freeze. 

That thought brought tears to his eyes that Healer Tompkins hushed away with a soft, “It will be alright, only another minute.” as if he were crying from the pain and not the guilt of allowing his brother to be stolen by another dragon. 

The release of the tears, coupled with the potion in his system were enough to lure him from exhaustion into unconsciousness, even as Healer Tomkins tied off the last of the stitches in his back. 

He dreamed of Richard’s screams. Of his brother’s body burning against the iron, the smell of flesh smoking, blistering, and breaking. Of Freeze tearing him apart slowly. Freezing him so cold that he did not even bleed when bones were shattered and limbs were torn. 

Damian woke in a panic.  He flailed, hurling the pillow his head had been resting on against a wall, and throwing himself to the side, off his stomach where he’d been laid on his bed. He tangled in blankets, the action reminding him why he’d been sleeping in the first place, his whole body felt like an ache. Like he’d fallen from a tower and hit the ground. Which, because of his stupid wings, he had. 

Everything about waking up felt wrong. He was in human form, not curled into the blankets like they were Mother’s arms nested around him. He was groggy, his head hurting, and his back tight against the bandages. The rest and relative peace of his room was the most wrong. Damian should not feel any peace while Richard was with Freeze. His brother was not feeling peace, and neither should Damian. He had not forgotten that it was his fault Richard had been captured. If only he had pulled his brother away. If only he had kept them in the forest, or been more insistent of the threat.

None of those things helped him now. All he could do was recover quickly and save Richard. The door to his room opened and a maid stepped in, Alicia. She was new, just arrived less than a fortnight before. They got along better than Damian had with the servants previously assigned to this wing of the castle and he was hoping she would decide to stay.  

“I heard your shout.” she said, “Are you alright? Have you hurt yourself, my prince?” 

“I am fine.” Damian said, pushing himself up so he was sitting. “It was a nightmare, nothing more. How are my father’s preparations coming?” 

“I cannot say. I have not heard anything beyond my orders to check in on your rest regularly.”

“There must be talk.” Damian prodded, pushing himself to sit up straight, “Some news of what he is doing. I am sure I have been out for a few hours in which something must have happened.” Whenever he took a pain relieving potion and fell asleep it kept him out for hours. 

She nodded her assent at this last bit, “Four.” she told him, “I do not know of any active plans, only that there is much talk of quieting the people after the attack.” 

Damian could not believe what he had heard, “Do you mean to tell me that my father has not made a move towards going after the dragon?” 

She shook her head, “I can only tell you what I know, my prince.” 

Damian pushed himself from the bed, “I must speak with him. Where is he?” 

Alicia held out her hands in a desperate attempt to keep him in bed. “Please, you need to rest, I can call him to you if you need, but you will further injure yourself if you do not lay back down.” 

Damian shook his head. Father was not preparing to go after Richard, and he needed to address it now, not after further rest. Every second was crucial to his brother’s survival. Damian did not understand why Father did not seem to realize that, but he would be sure to change that the moment he found him. 

He paused, “If anyone asks you were not here when I left, I will not get you in trouble for this. It is my decision.”

“My prince--” 

“I will rest momentarily. However I cannot until I have a grasp on the situation.” he said, and stepped past her. “Truly, it is not my intention to get you in trouble. I promise I will be back.” 

She let him move past him, but spoke up once more before he was beyond her reach, “I am not worried about my position, but your safety. We cannot afford to lose one prince for fear of the other.” 

Damian turned and nodded, “In that we agree.” he said, before moving down the hall. 

He found Father in the smaller antechamber used for strategies and meetings of the state that did not involve the public. At the table sat, Jason, Timothy, Cassandra, Pennyworth, and Father. He ruffled at the idea of being left out of any meeting, but understood at the same time he would have been useless even if he had not fallen asleep. Already he was exhausted from his walk, his back protesting each movement, his headache building. He wanted to change again, for the comfort of his other form, but didn’t want to risk further injuring himself. He would have to wait for the wound to begin to heal itself. 

Father looked up from the maps he was going over, Drake and Cain meeting his eyes as well. Pennyworth almost stood from his place beside Father, alarm on his face. He looked ready to escort Damian back to his room at a moment’s notice.

“Damian, you should not be up.” Father said. 

“I was told you have not yet begun making plans for Richard’s rescue.” Damian returned.

Father looked at the family, and Pennyworth, then sighed, “If you all will excuse us for a moment?”

Drake shot Damian a look, but Cain’s hand on his arm seemed to stop any comment from arising from him before they both stood and exited. Pennyworth glanced between the two of them for a moment before seeming to decide it was safe to leave father and son alone with each other and followed the others out.

“I assume you did not want them to hear me question your decisions?” Damian asked.

Father pulled a chair out for him “You assumed right. Damian, I know you want to go after your brother right away but we can’t.” 

Damian refused the seat, even though the thought of sitting was tempting. He was regretting moving from his bed or moving at all. The longer he was up, the more sore he was feeling and the worse his headache was getting. It had not been a good idea to attempt to follow Freeze and Richard, but in the moment it had felt right. Now all he felt was stupid for falling from a tower and bruising everything worse than he already had. 

He crossed his arms instead, refusing to wince as his back pinched in pain. “And why not? You are Batman are you not? You rescue hundreds of other citizens nightly, and jump into danger in an instant. Why is it not the same for Richard?” 

“The kingdom was just attacked by a frost dragon, already talk has started. People are worried about their safety and fear is spreading.” Father said, “We need to calm that before we can move forward.” He held up a hand as Damian began to protest, “And we need to prepare to go after Freeze. You saw firsthand how strong he is, we need to take time to make a strategy and collect--” 

“We do not have time!” Damian yelled, throwing his arms to his sides, “If he is not already dead Richard will be in only a few days time! You may think you know dragons because you loved Mother but you do not know frost dragons, or their cruelty. Richard’s death will not be a quick and painless one, Father.” Damian said, his chest freezing at the thought, at memories of lessons hard learnt. “It will be painful and long and cruel.” 

His father’s eyes narrowed at him, “We do not know if Freeze took him to kill him. In fact, that is the last thing I think he intends to do with him. Dick has been targeted by hundreds of people for his value as crown prince and for his magic. I’m certain Freeze has other plans for him besides death.” 

Damian prikled at those words, “So you do not intend to leave right away?” he asked, “You are going to leave him with a monster who would use an iron net on him? You would put calming the people above rescuing your son?” His skin crawled at the memory, his stomach turning at Richard’s scream again, at the blurred sight of his brother’s skin blistering and burning where the iron was shoved against it. 

Father stood, fist pounding into the table with a boom, “Do not insinuate I don’t love Dick, Damian. I am going to save him, but I will do it right, and in the best way to make sure he survives. I won’t risk his life because I was hasty and foolish.” 

The words felt like a slap across Damian’s face. Aimed at his own inability to properly prepare for the fight with Freeze, at his diving in to try and distract the dragon so Richard could get away. At his failure because of it, and Richard’s capture. 

“You are going to kill him.” Damian seethed, “This wasting time on planning and sending troops is going to get him killed. I was right about a dragon coming, and I will be right about this.” He turned on his heel and stormed out of the room, throwing the doors open and stalking past his family waiting in the hall. 

He stomped until he was sure no one was following him then stopped to catch his breath. The momentary lapse of fury and movement allowed the pain and soreness to seep back into his back. His head was pounding, throbbing against his forehead and eyeballs like everything inside was trying to escape. It made stomach churn, empty and sick.

Damian lingered too long in trying to right himself, and before he could push himself off the wall, he heard footsteps and his father’s voice soft but tired, “Damian.” 

He squared himself for biting words in return to his earlier outburst, but Father seemed to have calmed himself as well, sighing when he found him. 

“You should not be up.” 

“I cannot rest with Richard in danger, Father.” Damian told him. 

His father shook his head, “You can’t help if you’re not healing. What good will you do him passing out a few feet from the castle?” He placed a light hand on Damian’s shoulder, “I know it is not as fast as you want it to be, but I promise we will find him. Your brother is resourceful, he will be fine for a few days, and if all goes right we should leave tomorrow evening.” 

Damian looked up at him, hope pushing against the fear that seemed a constant presence in him, “You swear?”

Father did not nod as Damian hoped he would, but his hand did squeeze his shoulder, “As much as I am able to. We will leave the moment we can, and if Robin is to come with us you need to rest. I will send Healer Tompkins to check on you again, she may have something to speed your recovery.” 

Damian scrunched his nose, “Her potions always make me sleepy and slow to change.” He did not mind his human form, but his dragon one was far more comfortable, even if it was less conducive to healing quickly. He pulled away from the wall and swayed, Father’s hand the only thing keeping him upright. A hum was all that warned him this time, and he found himself scooped again into Father’s arms. 

“I can walk.” he protested. 

“This way I am sure you’ve returned to your bed.” Father said, already moving down the hall, “As to the potion, if you take it early enough you should have no problem changing when the time comes.” 

“Tt. Very well.” Damian allowed, “For Richard.” 


	4. Heartfreeze

Dick was cold and hungry and getting tired of sitting on frozen stone. It wasn’t that he was so much a prince he couldn’t abide a hard surface. He’d sat on cold stone and hard packed dirt often enough travelling with Wally and Damian. He was more a creature willing to be outside than in. He rarely minded being on the ground while outside. It made him feel closer to the earth, and more at home with himself.

His problem was that he was here against his will, and that he was still hurting. His neck stung when he moved it and different patches of skin on his arms and torso kept pointing out that they too had been burned, and what was he going to to about that? Worst of all, his hands throbbed inside the gloves. He didn’t want to try pulling them off for fear of tearing tender skin, but he also wanted to wash them. Not that he really had any ability to do that in a cave of ice.

Freeze had found a patch of straw for Dick to sit on, and he’d wrapped himself in the pelt he’d woke up with, which helped with the cold, but not enough. If he stayed any longer he would need more than it and his tunic to survive the temperatures of the cave. Not that he was planning to stay any longer than was required. All he was waiting for was timing.

“I don’t know if you have any more straw or blankets or another pelt or four but your cave is terribly uncomfortable.” he said, eyeing Freeze who’d been busy working on some kind of ice sculpture (his ‘work’ while he babysat Dick), “I’d like to think if Damian ever set up in one his would be plush and warm with lots of sun and hot rocks. Maybe even with some pillows.”

Freeze huffed, so Dick continued musing, “Though, I assume that kind of heat would be a problem for a frost dragon. What do you do for comfort? Have you ever seen a pillow?”

“This is comfort.” Freeze responded, “I have all I require, be glad for what I’ve provided you, Pest.”

Dick grinned at the nickname. It had taken all of an hour for Freeze to move past ‘Princling’ and hit ‘Pest’. And hour of Dick digging at him, and bothering him for something better to sit on than ice or would he rather his prince be half frozen when he kissed Nora? It had taken Dick even less time than Freeze to decide he could say just about anything and his captor had to listen, he couldn’t kill him after all. Not until he had a chance to kiss Nora.

“What did Nora say about all this?” Dick asked, “And if I may be so bold as to ask--”

“You may not.” came the immediate growl.

“How did you meet such an enchanting water nymph?” Dick continued, nonplussed.

“Nora has not seen this cave.” Freeze snapped, “She has no opinion.”

He didn’t continue, leaving Dick to the quiet of the cave broken only by the scritch scratching of Freeze’s claws on the block of ice he was working at. It was a strange task to see him working on, one Dick had not expected from the dragon. He found himself lost in watching a block be formed into a standing image of the woman in the other cave.

A cough gripped his chest and broke him out of his thoughts, bubbling from there through his throat, and try as he might to hold it back, it burst out. One then two, and a series of broken airy coughs. It was the freezing air bothering his lungs. Too cold to be soothing, but required for life, Dick huffed, and tugged the pelt closer.

He wanted Bruce with a fierceness. He hadn’t even been here a full day and all he wanted was his father. To be snuggled and warm and not have to worry about how he was going to escape, or if he could. He wanted to be tucked against his dad’s chest like he used to when he was a kid, wrapped in his cloak as he told stories around a fire. What Dick wouldn’t give for a fire.

He dozed while sitting up, his head bobbing, chin against his chest. His body jerking, falling to the side woke him long enough to convince him to curl on the straw. He hoped that laying down and sleeping under the pelt would keep him warmer than sitting on it had. Though he did not really care in that moment if it did or did not, all he was interested in was sleeping away a few hours of the shivering in his bones and the ache in his body. Maybe when he woke he could see if Freeze had anything to dull the pain in his hands. If he was even luckier he’d find Freeze gone and his chance for escape ripe.

The cold of the ground seeped through the straw and felt like it was freezing him. Specifically a spot on his ear, and his head. Dick frowned and reached up, his fingers fumbling against his earrings, and circlet. They were made of gold, and freezing even through his gloves. He hadn’t noticed before with everything else on fire and aching. He hated the idea of taking them off, but Bruce’s voice was in his head. A memory of years ago in the desert when he’d dropped a hat on Dick’s head after the sun had gone down.

_“It gets cold at night, you’ll want to preserve as much heat as you can.”_

Dick pulled the earrings off and set them beside him before he slipped the circlet off, his loose hair dropping into his face. He pushed it back and stared at the freezing circlet. Bruce had given it to him too, picked it out for the winding vines and leaves decorating it. 'Because it was like his son', he’d said, a hand on Dick’s shoulder, 'growing and beautiful'.

Everything was tinged with Bruce. Tears pricked his eyes. He was tired. He was alone. He wanted his dad. He curled around the circlet and tried to sleep.

He dreamed of warm sunlight overshadowed by clouds and ice and snow. Of a performance with his parents where he fell onto an iron net instead of rope. Of flailing and screaming, laughing spectators jeering him. His hands burning and tangled--and he woke gasping, laying on his stomach, his hands pressed under him, radiating with pain from the pressure his body was putting on them. The circlet had slipped away from him poking out from under the pelt.

He pulled them out, curling around them. Shaking from the pain, and willing it to ease up. Bruce would have taken them gently in hand, smoothing thick, wonderful, soothing cream over his palms, and blowing softly against the burning to ease it. Why was he burning and freezing at the same time? Dick’s throat was tight, his face hot against the cool air, and he pressed closer to himself.

The cave was still, the scratching had stopped, and he could no longer hear the sound of wings rustling. Dick opened an eye to find the cave dark, barely lit by reflected moonlight bouncing through the ice barrier across the opening. No huge shadows caught in his vision, and Dick guessed Freeze had gone into the other cave with Nora.

He moved his arms out in front of him, experimentally attempting to open his fingers from the squeezed fists he’d made. Something pulled and tore and seeped under the gloves, the pain returning with a force and Dick could not stop the sob that bubbled up. There was no way he was escaping until they’d calmed down. He did not think he could grip anything right now, let alone attempt a climb to one of the holes in the cave’s top. He pressed his palms back to his chest and curled again, hoping to preserve a bit of warmth with the action. The longer he was awake, the more the cold seeped past the warm haze of sleep.

He wanted Bruce. And Tim and Damian and Alfred and Cass. He wanted Steph’s playful jokes and Jason’s worried indifference. He wanted Barbara to tease him, and he wanted Wally’s smile that always seemed to lift his heart. He wanted home. He wanted to be tucked in someone’s arms, anyone’s arms, but mostly Bruce’s. His big, warm, comfort, warmer than anyone Dick had known until Damian came along with a fire burning his his belly. And still, Bruce was warmer than he on the days Dick needed it.

In the morning he would try his escape. His hands would feel better by then, even if they would not be better. Freeze could not stay in the cave for three days without leaving. Dick was sure he would need to leave for something the next day and then he would crawl out through the hole he’d seen and go home. If he got a fast enough head start he could hide well enough from Freeze, and hopefully find a town soon after that.

He drifted back off to dreams of escape and freedom and his father’s welcome embrace. When he woke again, his body was less sore and exhausted. The effects of the iron faded to lingering exhaustion and the physical burns. His hands, chilled by the air, were stiff, but he could move them with less pain than the day before. Freeze was already at work again on his statue, seeming to have endless patience with it, and an ever smaller amount for Dick.

“What’s for breakfast?” Dick asked, as he pushed himself up.

Freeze glanced back at him, “There is no breakfast.”

Dick frowned, “Do you not eat?”

“When I need it.” Freeze responded.

They lapsed into silence for a minute before, “What do you eat then?”

Freeze did not answer. That wouldn’t do. Dick needed a distraction. He was cold again. He never seemed to be really warm. Talking at least kept his mind from attempting to figure out just how long he had before freezing to death.

“My dragon,” Dick started, making Freeze quirk his head.

Dick continued in a pointed tone, “You’ll remember him-small, feisty, recently stabbed.”

The mention brought back freshly to mind how Freeze had dug his claw into his brother’s back. The way his brother’s blood had spread and Damian’s breath wheezed. How his claws had left marks in the stone Dick knew he’d be able to see when he returned home, the look of agony on his face. And how he still picked himself up and tried to go after them. Like he could do anything to stop what was happening.

Dick should have listened to his brother. Backed off and formed ranks with Bruce and the others. If he had, he wouldn’t be here, worried that Damian was going to do something stupid to hurt himself more. Or worse, worrying that the fight and his fall from the tower had left him unable to actually do anything reckless.

Freeze rolled his eyes, “I did not permanently damage the child. He will heal in time.”

Dick ruffled at that, wanted to tell him how much it didn’t matter that it wasn’t ‘permanent’, that he’d hurt Damian anyway and for a _distraction_. He didn’t. He didn’t want to push his luck, and he had a feeling his words would fall on deaf ears. Freeze was in no way regretful of any of his actions. Even Dick’s pain seemed to be beyond him.

“Well _he_ likes small game. Things like rabbits. He’s also partial to honeycomb, but don’t tell him I said that. He believes it's a secret.”

Freeze had gone back to his carving but paused at this to look at Dick again, “My favorite meal is princes who do not know how to shut up. The irritating ones always taste the best when finally silenced.”

Dick took the threat for what it was and tried to find something else to do. He stood and kept the pelt wrapped around himself like a cape. He claimed he was stretching his legs and moved back down the path towards Nora, but did not go all the way to her cavern. Instead he found a small area of sunlight, under the larger hole and stood under it, letting the little bit of light attempt to warm his skin.

He studied the walls, searching for an easy way to scale the side. He had no equipment, and his hands couldn’t be counted on for long. He’d just about worked out a path up when an impatient grumble from the front cave told him his ‘stretching’ time was up, and if he didn’t want to be dragged anywhere he should make his way back into Freeze’s line of sight.

He returned to his spot on the straw and sat cross legged, watching Freeze. He’d moved away from the statue to pace the room, obviously as bored as Dick was being cooped up.

“You know.” Dick started, “You might be able to just eat when you feel like it, but I need to have something soon.”

Freeze did not stop his pacing, “Do not think me a fool. You have plenty to eat at your castle, I doubt you are starving after a day.”

Dick crossed his arms, “A day sure, in good circumstances. But, I’m not in good circumstances. I’m freezing, injured, and recovering from iron exposure. If you want me to survive until the full moon I have to eat.”

“Pest.” Freeze muttered, “Fine. I will not be more than an hour.” He turned sharply and moved to the ice wall.

Dick stared as Freeze scratched a claw across the ice, melting it in a few seconds time. There was no fire or beating of the wall. Just a blue glow that made the whole thing drop into a puddle. He savored the few seconds of direct sunlight he got before Freeze stepped out, turned and re-froze the entrance with a stream of freezing breath, circling it closed until the last bit of bright sun was locked behind it.

Dick waited for Freeze's shadow to disappear from the ice, then stood in a hurry, leaving even the pelt behind as he ran for the hole. There was nothing to collect or scavenge for. No food for Dick to steal, or supplies that might help him, and so no time wasted in searching for any of it.

It took him a minute to find the route back up he’d determined. He placed his hands on the first holds and breathed, readying himself for the sure pain that would come with the climb. The ice was slippery, and Dick wished he had some kind of tool to help him. He figured if he was fast enough he could make it, but the moment he moved his sandaled foot up onto the wall it slipped and he fell back.

He tried two more times with little success beyond making it onto the wall and falling flat on his back. His hands were burning and he’d bumped one of the welts on his neck the second time he fell. Frustration ate at him, what kind of stupid dragon lined their cave with ice? He warded despair with the thought that maybe he could find something in the cave to help him.

He slid into the main cavern, eyes searching for anything that he could use to help him better grip the ice and get out. The pelt and straw wouldn’t help, neither able to dig into the ice and hold him in place. Nothing screamed ‘help with climbing’ on first glance, so Dick did a walk around the perimeter of the main cave.

It was mostly empty, with the statue Freeze had been working on as the main eye catcher. There were other blocks of ice littered close to it, and a few feet away sat bookshelves packed with tomes. A quick glance told Dick they were mostly books on spells and breaking them, and his heart hurt for Freeze and Nora. He didn’t know their whole story, but he didn’t have to. It was easy enough to tell how much he loved her, even if he was going about saving her the wrong way. Dick made a note to ask Alfred if he knew anything about their situation when he got back. Kidnapped or not, he didn’t feel right just leaving them in the same situation. It was desperation that had driven Freeze to do what he did, and if Dick could help he wanted to.

Tucked behind a rock further into the cave was the net Dick had been caught in the day before. He jumped back from it, his heart racing, hands burning even without touching it. He hurried away from it, wanting to be as far from the terrible thing as possible. In doing so, his foot caught on a scale, and he stumbled, slipping forward to fall on his knees.

Dick turned to kick at it with irritation but stopped mid-move. He reached forward and tugged it towards him. It was bigger than Damian’s, fitting snugly in Dick’s palm. It was also harder than the few his brother had lost. Dick scrambled to find another, deciding they were better than nothing to try and scratch through the ice. If they’d come from an ice dragon, they may be useful in getting him up the wall. He found a second, and third, a scattering of some, possibly knocked off from scratching against the wall or a tangle with the net. Dick didn’t care. He collected them in his arms and hurried back to the hole.

It took a few attempts but he managed to wedge the more pointed edge of the scales into the wall and keep them there, creating an anchor to help him haul himself up. It was slow and his hands were throbbing by the time he made it halfway up, but he was climbing, and would soon be out.

He’d lost a lot of time to searching for the scales, so he wouldn’t have as good a headstart as he’d hoped to. He would simply have to find a better hiding spot when he got out. And he would get out. The hole was getting nearer, and the closer he got the more he realized it was just big enough for him to fit through.

He stabbed another scale into the wall and pulled himself up further. Soon he’d be home. Soon he’d see Bruce. Soon he’d know how bad off Damian was. Soon he could forget about this whole business with his family close by.

Dick reached the lip of the hole and reached up and out, the warmth of the sun above already sinking through his glove and caressing his hand. Out of everything, all he wanted was sunlight, heat, and warmth. To soak up nature and breathe fresh air. He reached his other hand out, balancing against two scales pressed into the wall and pulled himself up.

His hands screamed at the pressure, but Dick didn’t let them drop him. He flopped out and onto a cragy slope of stone, and dragged himself the rest of the way out of the cave. The air was still chilly, but sweet the way it is when the sun burns through morning air into afternoon.

He gave himself a few seconds to turn, and sit against the stone, letting the sun hit his face and the wind tease his hair.

One second, two, and three, then he climbed to his feet and wobbled for a moment, his head spinning with vertigo. He sucked in the fresh, _fresh_ , mountain air and started moving, picking his way down the rocks and cliff face he’d found himself on. Small plants hearty enough to grow out of stone picked as his ankles, pulling him this way and that while a few flowers leaned, pointing towards places where the rocks would not slide and his footing could be firm.

Dick smiled at them, brushing a hand under soft pink petals, “Thank you.” he whispered, and allowed them to lead him safely down from the mountain.

It had been more than an hour, and Dick knew his time was running short to find a good hiding place. If Freeze had not already returned, he would be soon, and Dick would have to be well out of sight before the dragon could take to the skies. He was picking his way down to a forested portion of the mountain, and he hoped the the cover of the trees would be enough to hide him.

Dick could smell the pine and must of forest floor. His blood thrummed with the thought of being surrounded by life. Life that kept living even in extreme temperatures. Life that pushed past heights and stone and grew. He could feel the strength of that life seeping into his chilled skin and tired bones. Working its way against the burns and blisters and ache from the iron.

He moved faster, his feet stumbling against stone, pebbles slipping under his boots, caution thrown to the wind as he needed to be surrounded by the trees, feel the green around him, breathe deeply of the air.

Freezing air hit him from behind, tangling his hair in a mess of beating wind. A roar, beating wings, and the pressure of cold, more and more cold, came from behind and Dick ran. The plants around his ankles now working to keep his balance as he moved, everything slipping and sliding around him.

“Stop.” Freeze’s voice was fury and ice.

Dick kept moving. If he could get to the trees, to the woods, they would protect him. Give him time enough to hide to be safe. There was another roar behind him, and Dick’s skin chilled again as a shadow moved over him, blocking the sunlight.

There was another growl, then words Dick couldn’t understand. They were spoken in a language he’d only heard Damian mumble late at night while sleeping, or shout when he was in too much pain to speak common. Power hummed in the air and Dick dove towards the trees. He passed the first one at a roll and  tumbled into the scattering of green. He wasn’t in full forest yet, but he could feel their strength around him, pulsing into his body.

Freeze’s attack missed, and he heard another roar behind him, but he wasn’t going to stop. Not now that he’d made it into the trees. He scrambled to his feet and ran. The evergreens were humming, scattering needles behind him, calling to him. Dick found one with boughs low enough to grab onto and start climbing.

The tree gave him a path up and sheltered his view from the sky where another roar cracked the air. Dick found a tree close by and leapt, his last pine boosting him so he made the jump. Branches caught and cradled him and he shimmied around the tree, whispering his thanks. If he could stay here, hidden in the pines, moving between the trees he’d eventually make it deep enough that Freeze could not get in. He knew the pines wouldn’t let the dragon pass if there were enough of them. Dick just had to make it.

He ignored the burning in his hands and flung himself again into the next tree. His palms stinging as they smacked the trunk, and grasped at a branch. He had to pause to catch his breath, even within the trees he was still exhausted. Hungry and drained from the net.

The pine whispered urgency in his mind and Dick pushed himself from where he’d leaned against it. He shifted until he saw the next one. Freeze shouted above him. He thought he heard the dragon switch to his native language again, and the air buzzed with power. The pine promised he was covered so Dick leapt.

Freeze's voice boomed again, and power flooded the area. The trees screamed and something freezing hit Dick’s back. It stole his breath and sent him tumbling, dropping him onto to the pine scattered floor. He tried to catch himself with his hands, fire lancing through them on impact. He fell back to the ground with a cry, gasping in the spiky scent of the pines. His ears rung, and the sound of the trees around him had gone quiet. Too quiet. There was no hum, no whispers what to do.

He tried to push himself up, but cold caught in his chest. A tight, taught, rod of iron that burned and seared and froze. Dick’s breath escaped his lungs like riders fleeing into the night and he dropped back onto the ground. The ice felt like a vice, wrapping around his chest, constricting every intake of air. He couldn’t breathe. He couldn’t move. It felt like he’d been filled from the inside out with snow, packed hard against every inch of him. His vision swam.

Dick tried to reach out, fingers digging into the earth, calling for help, from anywhere or anything. Nothing. He could feel nothing. He tilted his head up and saw the trees frozen solid. Blue with ice and sparkling from the sun. A sob caught in his throat, held there by the ice inside.

Something pulsed, and the cold expanded. Dick tried to scream but all that came out was a gasp. He curled in on himself, gripping at his chest, trying to breathe. Black inched its way in against his sight. His chest hurt, it burned in the way one’s hands did when dipped into water after being too cold. Dots of light and black danced in his vision. He couldn’t pass out. He couldn’t stop now, not when he was so close.

But he couldn’t breathe. Or think or move. His world was ice and cold. His breath came in gasps. In puffs of white against the dead scattered green. Sleep at least might bring some warmth. Bring some relief. The black was too fast encroaching his vision, and Dick leaned into it squeezing his eyes shut and letting himself fall back into the blackness of unconsciousness.


	5. Gust of Wind

Damian’s back burned as he pulled the drawstring of the bow towards himself, aiming an arrow at its target. He ignored the pain, radiating from between his shoulder blades, the stitches there pulled but not broken, and let the arrow loose. It flew forward, sinking into the center of the target. His first in an hour. 

He let his arms drop, and sucked in a breath as the pain seemed to spread before dulling. Healer Tompkins’s potion was doing it’s job, holding Damian together while he tested it and his own limits. He would not be useless when they left to save Richard. 

He knew where Father was planning to go, knew where the sightings pointed. Damian knew where to go to find his brother. He had studied the maps and trails and would be there now if he could. He would have Father there if he could. But they were still preparing and Damian was still supposed to be ‘resting’. 

As if he would allow himself to sleep any longer than was necessary. He had already spent an uncomfortable night in his bed, tossing and turning, unable to find comfort even in being able to change to his dragon form to sleep. His head had been too foggy from the potion, too slow to focus and his hold on his flame kept slipping. 

What he wanted was a clear head and his body warmed up for a fight. He wanted Father to give him a direction beyond ‘rest’. He had sent the rest of their family scrambling, preparing for their trip to the mountains, as he himself had set to restoring peace to the people’s minds. Promising that they would double guards, and rebuild what was broken quickly. He laid out a plan of attack against Freeze, swearing to push him further away from Gotham. 

Damian knew it all to be talk. They would leave in the evening, even as Father’s army was preparing to go after Freeze the next day. That at least, he had gotten out of his father before he’d been returned to his room and shuttered from all news. 

He retrieved another arrow and knocked it, repeating the motion of pulling it back, breathing in against the pain, and hitting the target. Slightly off center this time. He’d snuck down to what his brother called the Batcave, but was really just the unused and abandoned dungeons, cleared out for the family’s ‘personal use’. It was a place for his family to suit up for their vigilante activities, and practice harder than they could display to the public. Right now it was Damian’s haven. 

Nocturna whinnied and Damian paused to look at his father’s huge steed, black as night and larger than he’d ever seen a horse. Nocturna was one of his favorite things about coming down to the dungeons. She was terrifying and mighty and just the kind of creature Damian loved. They had quickly come to an understanding, and gradually formed a kind of bond. Damian often snuck down to feed her sugar and groom her. 

“I do not know how you put up with Father.” Damian told her, aiming again, “We both know he should have gone after Richard sooner than this.” 

His head was light this time as he breathed in, and he had to blink away spots. Still he aimed and hit the target. Nocturna’s hooves made an impatient clatter on the stone and she huffed at him. 

Damian glanced at her as he pulled out another arrow, the temptation to drop everything and pet her was strong. His workout had not even been as long as usual but he was already tired. Already considering a break or stopping. He could not. He could not take it easy when Richard was fighting for his life.

He turned his attention back at the target. The arrow hit closer to the edge than the center and Damian swore. Hooves approached him as he pulled another arrow and angrily aimed the bow at the target again. Nocturna allowed him one more miss before he was stopped from loosing a furious arrow by lips in his hair, and hot breath on his head. She tousled his hair, and butted her nose against one of his horns. 

“I am not working too hard!” he snapped, gripping his bow tightly. His words jarred her and Nocturna took a step back with a nervous shake of her head. 

Damian did not want to upset her and sighed, trying to explain, “I do not need to rest. I have to push myself past this because I must be ready to help Richard. I must be better prepared than I was last time, and know my current limits as best as I can.” 

His head had begun to ache, the pain from his back seeming to inch it’s way up his neck and into his skull. He rolled his shoulders, trying to work out the tightness, “Father will need me at my best.  _ Richard  _ needs me at my best.” 

Pulling back the bowstring made his breath catch and this time the arrow missed the target by a wide margin. Damian’s vision doubled and he dropped to sit on the ground in frustration. Nocturna butted him with her nose and Damian reached out to pet her. She nuzzled him again and Damian let himself lean forward to pull her close. 

“It is my fault.” he said, voice muffled against her face, “I let him be taken, and anything that happens to him is on me. I must save him.” 

She huffed another burst of warm air at his neck and Damian sniffed, “I cannot fail him this time.” He pressed his face closer, his nose squished against her muzzle, “He is the only one who even tries to understand me like you all do.” he paused, “Well, beyond Father. But Father’s love is different. Richard--I do not want to lose him.”

For this, he received another whinny and Damian nodded, his forehead rubbing against her fur, “I know you will do your best when the time comes. He loves you too.” 

He released her face and leaned back on his palms. “Perhaps I will put in some sword practice  next.” He said, his vision only just blurry.

Nocturna shook her head, sending her mane in a halo around her head. Damian smiled at her and pushed himself to his feet. 

“You are right, I will get as much exercise done brushing you then I would swinging a sword at dummies. At least this way I will have a moving target.” he said, “Let me brush you down and then I will go see when Father is planning to leave.” 

When he returned upstairs, Damian almost detoured for a nap on his way to find his Father. The moment he was no longer making himself focus on a specific task his body thought it a good idea to pile exhaustion over him. He decided that he could rest after he knew their status, he would not sleep easily without the knowledge. 

Damian poked his head into his father’s room to find it empty and huffed. When he turned Todd was leaning down, his face too close to Damian’s for comfort. He had to swallow down fire in an effort not to spit flame at his brother and ruin what seemed to be a good mood. 

“I could have killed you.” 

“You wouldn’t have even scratched me.” Todd said, straightening. 

“Tt.” Damian crossed his arms, “What do you want?” 

Jason mirrored his pose while grinning, leaning back a little to look down at Damian. Out of everyone he was the tallest and most built out. Richard had once told Damian that if Jason could spring up like he had, then Damian had nothing to worry about with his own size. Damian had reminded his brother that they were family by adoption and Todd’s father being an orc had much to do with his growth. 

Damian wished he could have the same argument with Richard again, and perhaps admit he was not so worried about growing larger anymore. 

“I was looking for you. Bruce wants to talk to us.” 

Damian frowned, “Us?” Was Father planning to send Todd and he together on a mission? It would be better than pairing him with Drake, but if Damian could choose Cain would be his choice. They had far more in common. 

Jason rolled his eyes, “You, me, Tim, Cass if we can find her. Us.” he made a circular hand motion. 

Then it was a family meeting. Damian stepped past him, “Fine, you found me, where is the meeting.” 

Jason reached out and stopped him with a hand on his shoulder, “Hold on, Fire and Brimstone, I’m supposed to make sure you make it there okay.” he said, moving to stand by him, “We’re heading to his office.”

“I am capable of walking to Father’s office on my own, Todd.” Damian shook his hand off. 

His brother hummed, already walking forward, “Okay, Prince Capable, why don’t you explain to B why we didn’t show up together then?” 

Damian huffed and hurried after him. 

They were the last to arrive. Drake was busy looking over a map on the table, Cain and Brown were playing with some sort of crystal, and Father was rubbing his nose while seated at the desk. He looked up when they stepped in and motioned for them to take a seat. 

“Oracle has locked in on Dick’s location.” Father said, after everyone had their attention on him. 

“Then we can leave.” Damian said, hand on the armrest of his chair, “We could go after him immediately.” 

Tim leaned towards Damian with a frown, “The plan was to leave tonight, Damian.” 

“The plan has changed.” Father told them.

Damian grinned, “Excellent then--” 

His father held up a hand, “Hold on. We are not leaving earlier. It is taking longer to quell the people than expected, and I will have to ride out with the patrol tomorrow morning.” 

Damian spluttered, the fire in his stomach burning with indignation and he seethed, “The morning?”

“Careful, Damian, you’re smoking.” Stephanie said, poking him in the side, “A few hours delay isn’t that bad in the scheme of things.” 

Damian turned on her, “Richard could be dead in a few hours.” he snapped, then turned back to his father, “This is a foolish plan. The people will be calmed enough if Batman returns victorious. We cannot delay our rescue.” 

His father sighed, “The people need to have faith in their king, Damian. Not just Batman. And this isn’t simply about them. We are waiting on approval for the Themysciran emissary to assist us in the fight and for a riding of soldiers to return. Added to that, Oracle foresaw Dick’s return tomorrow, not tonight.” 

Tim closed his book and eyed Damian, “Just calm down, and listen for once. If Bruce thinks this is the best course of action I agree.”

Damian’s breath sparked, he could taste ash and fury. None of them understood. Not a single member of his family seemed to realize that Richard could die at any moment. That Freeze’s temper could change with the wind and they would lose him forever. It did not matter what Oracle saw, she did not always see the truth. She could not see every ripple of change. She had missed seeing Richard’s capture.    
“I would listen if any of you were making sense.” Damian said, “It is like you do not believe Richard is in any danger, and I can assure you he is. I have known Frost dragons. I have seen their tempers and moods change. Every second we waste is another second closer to his death.” 

“Bruce’s plan is better.” Tim said, “I’d trust his over yours. Your last one got Dick captured.” 

The dagger hit as it was intended and Damian’s fire smothered, cold taking over his chest as guilt ate at him. Drake was right. It was his fault. All the more reason for it to not be again. 

“I am well aware of my failure, Drake.” Damian hissed, “It is exactly why I am trying to make sure no one else does the same and Richard dies as a result.” 

They glared at each other for a few moments before Bruce cleared his throat. 

“Damian, I understand your worry. We are all worried about Dick. I have already promised you we will get him back, and I am not going back on that. But we will do things my way, and that means leaving tomorrow morning.” 

Father’s tone was one that promised retribution and even a denial of being able to go if Damian argued further, so he growled and leaned back into his chair, steaming through the rest of his Father’s plan. They did not know. They had not seen Freeze up close. Had not been under his claw. They had not heard Richard’s screams. 

Damian closed his eyes and tried to block out the overwhelming sound of his brother’s agony. Tried to forget the fact that he was nursing terrible burns alone. Tried to forget the fact that it was his fault all this had happened to Richard. 

Drake stopped him as they were leaving, just outside Father’s door. His face was set, serious and determined. 

“What?” Damian asked, tired and sick with worry for Richard. 

The last thing he wanted was to stand and talk with the brother who agreed the least with him. He wanted to work on a plan to hurt Freeze and incapacitate him. He wanted to picture every way to make their plan a success. 

“You looked like you were barely listening in there.” Tim said, “I hope your not planning to go on your own.” 

“And if I am?” Damian asked, “What will you do about it?” 

Tim stood back and crossed his arms, “You’ll only give us one more thing to worry about doing that. Running off with no plan or backup was the worst thing you could do last time.” 

Damian ruffled at this, he had not asked Drake to remind him again that he had made a mistake. That they should have stayed in the forest. “Last time.” he said, his voice angry and smoky, “No one came to help in time. We did not have backup _ because it never came.”  _

“I’m not going to play this game, Damian. You made a mistake.” Drake was angry as well, his face red, eyes sharp, “Dick is gone. Taken by a psychotic dragon. I’ve seen what you can do, do you think I’m not imagining how much worse it is for Dick?” he poked Damian in the chest, the white of an old scar on his arm poking out from under his sleeve, a scar Damian had put there in a fit of anger.  

“Of course it is worse for him.” Damian snapped, ignoring the sudden guilt of regret. “Though it does not seem like any of you care.” 

The finger in his chest turned into a shove, “Care? You think I don’t care?” Tim’s voice was close to a yell, “You think I don’t care about the one person who took me in and made me feel like a part of this family? Who is always there for me? How can you say I don’t care about him? All I want is to get him back, and at least I’m trying to do something about it!” 

He was shouting now, and advancing on Damian. His anger sending Damian stepping back towards the wall.

“You were there Damian. You let Freeze take him. You could have done anything to protect him and yet here we are, trying to make sure he doesn’t get eaten by someone of your like. Why didn’t you stop him, oh trained from birth fierce and mighty dragon?”

The fire in Damian’s stomach raged against Tim’s words and the guilt flooding Damian’s mind. “I was there!” he shouted back, “I did my best, and what were you doing? Lazing about in the castle, hoping that someone else would take care of the problem? Where were you Drake!” 

“Boys!” the wood of Father’s door slammed open, startling both Damian and Tim. Their heads swiveled to look at their father, and the disapproval on his face.

“I will not have you two fighting over this. What’s done is done, and we will all work together to get Dick home safe and sound. Am I understood?” Father’s tone was not a question but a statement.

Tim mumbled and affirmative. Damian only gave his father a nod, before he ducked around Drake and stormed down the hall, back towards his room. His head was a mess of emotions and he needed quiet to sort them all out.

His stomach churned against the fact that they had hours added to the time they were supposed to leave. He was sick with worry, and his back was hurting again. He threw himself onto his bed and curled in on himself. Drake was a fool. He was also right. This was his fault. Damian curled tighter, wishing he could change again and make himself into a ball. It was his fault and Father’s delays meant he must worry more. 

Richard. Damian wanted his brother. He wanted him to be there telling him that everything would work out okay. Wanted his hand gently running through his hair, and his familiar soothing voice easing the pain in his back and chest. He wasn’t there. And wouldn’t be until they saved him. What if he were already dead? Frozen by some whim of the dragon who’d taken him? Killed in a fit of fury? Damian could not stand to lose him. Richard was his most precious person. He was a part of Damian’s own heart, he did not know what he would do if they found him dead. 

He squeezed his eyes shut and tried to think of all the ways he could punish Freeze for even taking his brother. To come up with plans of attacking that would be more effective than his last attempt. Somehow the earlier exhaustion washed over his tense muscles and eased him asleep.

Damian’s dream started with Richard screaming. He screamed as Freeze pinned him down with iron rods and then pulled him apart bit by bit. Finger by finger, freezing each limb blue and purple before swallowing it. Damian himself was there. Trapped behind a wall of ice that his fire couldn’t break through. He tried. He tried everything. Blowing all the flame in his body at the ice. Begging Freeze to stop. Sobbing for forgiveness from Richard. 

Richard never gave his forgiveness. He did not have the breath for it. He did not stop screaming, not until he was gone. Then Freeze turned to Damian, his scales glittering and highlighted with Richard’s blood. He smiled, teeth red and dripping his voice of sanguine delight, “Thank you little prince for my excellent lunch, I am sorry that I saved none for you.” 

Damian woke in a panic, he couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think, couldn’t do anything but roll over. The blankets tangled around him and Damian flailed, falling from the bed to land on his back in a burst of pain. The air burst out of him in a yelp and his stomach spun. Damian was afraid he’d be sick. He breathed and pushed himself up from the ground, untangling the heavy blanket from his legs. 

He wadded it in his hands, his claws almost tearing the fabric, his knuckles whitening. Late afternoon light danced in through his window, sparkling across the bronze scales on Damian’s hands. It made the bronze look almost red, like blood. 

He dropped the blanket and scrambled to his feet. He would not wait on Father or any of the others. He had to go after Richard now. 

Damian’s desire to be on the road was so great, and pressed him so for speed he did not notice anyone else was with him in the armory when he arrived. He fumbled for a proper bow, and to find the dragon scale piercing weapons, dropping one with a clatter that elicited a yelp from behind him. 

Damian spun, an arrow in one hand and pressed it under the throat of whoever was behind him. Wallace held up two hands and gave him a sheepish smile. 

“Don’t kill me, kid. I’m pretty sure we’re both here for the same reason.” 

Damian lowered the arrow, “West, what could you possibly think we are here to do?”

Wallace shrugged, “Save the crown prince of course.” 

Damian eyed him, “You are aware that my father has not set the time to leave until tomorrow, correct?”

“I am, which is why we’re both here now. Waiting until morning is too long, and who knows what could be happening to Dick while we twiddle our thumbs. I can’t just leave him, and you being here now means you can’t either.” 

Damian huffed, “How were you planning to rescue my brother from a frost dragon?” 

“I’m fast, remember.” West said, “I was going to snatch him and run.” 

Damian set the arrow back with the others of its kind, “That is a foolish plan.” 

West frowned, crossing his arms, “It’s better than sitting around waiting for your dad to mobilize the troops.” he turned from Damian, pacing the armory, his form flickering and dissolving as he moved faster than any normal person could. “That’s going to take forever. Far too long for my tastes. By the time they get there all they’ll find is your brother’s dead body instead of my best friend.” 

Damian’s chest froze his mind conjuring his nightmares again. Nightmares of Richard torn to pieces. Of his brother frozen solid. He could not fall into despair, so he lurched in the opposite direction towards fury, “He will not die.” he snapped, “He won’t because I’m going to save him.”

West was in his face then, his curly hair wisps on top of his head, and Damian could just see the line of swords behind him before he solidified again, “Yeah? You’re gonna take on a full grown frost dragon by yourself? It did not go so well last time, so tell me, my prince, what is your brilliant plan?” 

What  _ was _ he going to do? Damian had not thought about that. He only wanted to save Richard. He could not live in a world that did not have his brother in it. He refused to. No one cared like Richard did. No one knew him like Richard did. No one would be with him as long as Richard could. Damian could not stand the thought of a future without him. 

And still, his mind blanked when faced with the question of what. He  _ had  _ been too small. Too powerless. Too weak. Everything he should not be. He could not stop Freeze from taking Richard. How was he to get him back? Panic and fear ate away at the furious flame in his stomach and doused it. He coughed black smoke. He could not let fear take him

“I-” he said, and bolstered his anger again, irritated that Wallace would make him doubt himself. “I was trained as an assassin. I will sneak in and sneak him out. And if I must fight, I will be prepared this time.” 

Something changed in the man’s face and he sighed, “Look,” he ran a hand across his head, flattening flyaways, “Your brother is my best friend. I love him more than I can even say, and I want him safe more than anything in the world. I’m going to do everything in my power to make that happen.” 

The thought of working with someone as intent on getting Richard back alive as he was eased the knot of terror in Damian’s stomach, “Fine.” he agreed, “You may accompany me. Your speed will be useful if we can aim it correctly.”

West frowned, “I could go ahead, and make sure he’s alright.” he said, “But, are you sure you should be going right now? I don’t want to put two princes in danger.”

“I am going.” Damian said, “I cannot sit by and risk Richard dying from it. I will go without you if I must.”

West shook his head, “No. Our best bet is to work together on this, the two of us will do more together, and give him his best chance. I just--”

“You cannot convince me to stay.” Damian’s voice was firm, a hint of a growl behind it, “He is my brother I won’t leave him.”

West nodded and then grinned at him, the lopsided kind Richard liked to give Damian when he knew he was getting away with more than he ought. “Then it looks like we are partners.” 

They looked each other over for a moment before the press of time reminded them why they were both there. Damian pointed out the correct armor piercing weapons, even as West was reaching for them. They discussed strategy, Damian had a more exact knowledge of where Richard was, and West could sneak two horses out easier than Damian could. He was not supposed to be recovering after all.  At the mention of that he’d regarded Damian with a careful eye that made the boy snap at him. He was fine. Well enough to rescue his brother. The matter was dropped and together they snuck out of the castle, leaving well before anyone had even thought to look for them.


	6. Wall of Ice

Dick was freezing from the inside out. He was freezing from the outside in too, but that didn’t seem so bad anymore. Not with the way ice seemed to eat at his veins, and creep it’s way towards his heart. His blood felt sluggish. His brain slow to do anything. It was centered in his chest, in his lungs and spine and center. 

Dick was going to die. 

Not now. No, Freeze wouldn’t let it kill him yet. Dick would not have woken back on his pad of straw, covered by the pelt if Freeze had intended on the spell freezing him then and there. But soon. As soon as his blue touched lips had graced Nora’s. As soon as her eyes didn’t flutter open his would slip closed.

He curled in on himself and ignored Freeze while he tried not to sob. It was worse, somehow, than the iron had been. That he’d known how to deal with. This? This spell or whatever Freeze had done to him? Dick didn’t know what to do with it or how to deal with it or anything beyond the feeling of cold. He was sure he’d never feel warm again. 

“Eat, Pest.” Freeze rumbled, his feet clicking on the floor as he moved towards Dick, “You asked for food, and you need your strength.” he said it dismissively, like he didn’t care. But the fact that he had bothered to speak at all told Dick that the command was important.

He wasn’t sure he could move beyond shivering, but he couldn’t die yet. If he did, Freeze would only go after Jason or Tim or Damian. He couldn’t let that happen. He pushed himself up and gasped, a puff of cold air escaping his lips, fogging the space before his eyes before fading. 

Freeze dropped something in front of him. A huge boar, with a bloody gash in its side. It thumped against the ground, a dead glassy eye staring at him, it’s swollen tongue lolling from it’s open mouth. 

Dick’s stomach turned, and if it wasn’t empty he might throw up. He’d seen dead animals of course, but everything about this made him sick. “I can’t eat this.” he said. 

Cold air blew into his face, pushing his hair back from his forehead, “Why not? It is freshly caught.” Freeze asked. 

“It’s raw. I can’t--It needs to be cooked. That will only make me sick.” 

The dragon growled at him, “Ungrateful pest. You trick me into leaving for food, try to escape, and then spurn my offering. Fine.” 

Freeze leaned down and snatched the boar up into his mouth, tossing it high before catching it with a snap of his jaws and the crack of bones. Blood dribbled from his mouth as Freeze broke the boar in half, and crunched on the pieces, blood and sinue flying as he ate. 

Dick did get sick then, he scrambled off the straw and dry heaved on his hands and knees, his stomach trying to turn inside out. Cold flowed from his body, a stream of fogged breath a little like Damian’s puffs when he slept. Only this wasn’t steam created from a healthy flame, it felt like Dick’s life escaping his lips in steady waves.

When the crunching stopped he heard Freeze hum, “It seems it made you sick after all.” and then his wings shuffled as he turned to move away again. 

Damian didn’t eat that way. At least he’d never had in front of Dick. He didn’t eat to make someone sick, and he didn’t do it in a taunting way. He was delicate, and careful, especially in his dragon form. Dick wanted his little brother cradled in his arms. He wanted his little fireball that was sweet and sassy and hid a heart bigger than Freeze was. He did not want this hulking creature that was before him.

He pushed himself back onto the straw and dragged the pelt around his shoulders again, swallowing down the leftover feeling of bile in his throat. His chest hurt worse. The cold was seeping closer to his heart, and piercing deeper into his lungs. 

“You’re a pretty messy eater.” Dick said, trying to sound as offhanded about it as he could after his display. “Damian’s never made that kind of a mess.”

“Your dragon sounds far too civilized.” Freeze said, sitting down to watch Dick. “Most are like I am.”

Dick shrugged, “Ra’s didn’t eat like that.” 

Freeze rolled his eyes, and picked at something in his teeth, “The Al Ghuls are flippant and foolish. They follow too much decorum and try too hard to be like everyone else.” 

“Maybe it’s you who’s not trying hard enough.” Dick said, “The world is changing, and growing smaller. You can’t stay so vicious and make it.” 

Freeze flicked part of a bone at him. It missed him, clicking against the wall behind him before skittering across the floor. “You are testing my patience, Pest.” 

Dick grinned, “Am I passing?”

Freeze grumbled and stood, moving down towards the other cave, “Do not try to leave again.” he warned. 

Dick was left with his thoughts, well his thoughts and the cold. He wasn’t really happy with either as a companion. He was going to die. The ice inside him was going to inch its way to his heart and freeze it solid. He wasn’t going to see his family ever again. 

He’d been so close. He could smell the trees, the forest, the dirt. His chest hitched, he gasped out a sob. His face felt hot, the only warmth anywhere on him, and his eyes watery. But he couldn’t cry. He sobbed, and no tears came, which only made him cry harder. He’d had even that taken from him. 

He buried his face in his knees and tried to calm down. He couldn’t lose himself now. He still had time to try to come up with some way to stall or delay or make time for Bruce to arrive. His dad was coming. He knew that. Bruce wouldn’t leave him to die at Freeze’s hands. And Damian wouldn’t let him be too slow. Dick just had to create an opening for them to make it. He had to get Freeze to leave again. But he had to wait. To parcel out his time until Freeze was no longer on guard against escape attempts. 

He was still wrapped in on himself when Freeze returned. He wasn’t sure how long he’d been gone, but it was enough that when Dick shifted he felt a layer of frost on himself crack and shift. He wondered briefly if Freeze had hit Nora with the same thing he’d hit Dick with. Maybe it was the dragon’s fault they were in this mess.

He let his chin rest on his hands and watched Freeze lumber into the room and lay down, slitted blue eyes locked on Dick.

“You never told me how you met Nora.” he said. “Or how she fell into an enchanted sleep.” 

Freeze studied him, probably trying to tell if this was another trick or not. He didn’t seem like he was going to say anything, and Dick really didn’t want silence then, “It would be good to know a little about her, if I’m going to kiss her.”

Freeze shifted, laying his head on his wrapped arms, and huffed. He seemed disinterested and Dick really didn’t want to just sit in the cold staring at each other. He felt tattered. Exhausted, despite sleep. He wanted home and family and a warm bowl of soup, barring that he wanted at least some form of conversation, even if he did have to pull it out of Freeze. 

“If you are so hesitant to tell me it must mean you kidnapped her. Do you even know her? Or is she some poor innocent creature you--”

“Do not speak of her that way!” Freeze roared, leaping to his feet, “Nora is the only being that has ever shown me kindness or been worthy of it in return. I will not have you slander her image.”  He growled, advancing on him, “She has always been with me of her own free will.” 

His breath was freezing and rancid and blew ice into Dick’s hair, but he wasn’t going to budge, at least someone’s blood was boiling. 

“So.” Dick said, staring into his face without flinching, his voice careful and measured, “Tell me her story.”

He had faced worse than an angry dragon, Damian had been a little terror when he’d first arrived, and Dick still had all his limbs. Even Dick’s encounter with Ra’s had been worse than this, him tiny and trapped in the claws of a dragon bigger than he’d ever seen, being held as a way to lure Bruce out. He’d even faced worse with Freeze, the net and spell. A little anger would not make him back down.

Freeze eyed him before stepping away and flopping to the ground. The cave shuddered, the straw under Dick rattling with the impact. “I was young.” Freeze started, “Young and foolish. I took what I wanted, when I wanted it.” 

So far Dick didn’t see much difference in his actions, but he chose to keep his opinion to himself this time. He didn’t want to mess up storytime. 

“We met by accident. I was hungry and caught the first beast I saw, a furious boar angered and frothing and too busy to notice my descent. It was relieved sobs that told me I was not alone. The boar had been chasing Nora.” 

A small smile crept across Freeze’s face at the words, the memory seeming to soften him, “She had woken it dancing the dew through the forest that morning. Somehow she stumbled over him. I did not know it then, but this was the first of many meetings. I preferred that area for hunting and we crossed paths many times.”

“What happened?” Dick asked. 

“As I told you, I was young and foolish. The nymphs of her clan were furious with me for tearing up their land, and freezing the plantlife. They mounted an attack and Nora stood against them. She was exiled and we left.” 

It wasn’t the worst thing that could have happened to them, Dick knew. They could have both been killed. Nora’s magic could have been taken or sealed. Her family may have taken her back and barred them from being together. And still, it wasn’t the best of situations. Dick was lucky, while his parents had both been removed from their own peoples he was not barred entry for his parentage. If he ever needed the help of the fey or elves he could ask. It would not be easy, but he at least had the option. 

“She became ill and required the help of her people.” Freeze’s face grew stormy, “They refused, she had been cast out and they would not help.”

“Could you not try again?” Dick asked, “I don’t know many people who would hold out for this long.” 

Freeze shook his head, “I ate them for their stubbornness. They were useless to me beyond that. I believed I could fix her with my own magic. Water and ice are the same thing after all.” He turned his attention to the connecting cave, “I froze her with the same spell inside you and used a healing spell in addition. It should have worked after a time.” 

“But she’s still dying.” Dick finished, the cold in his own chest seeming to expand again with the words. 

He couldn’t imagine what they’d both faced with her illness, the fear and worry. The desperation to try anything, even a spell like what Freeze had put over Dick. It hurt, constantly, an ache of ice trying to freeze him solid. Was Nora like that? Ice from within? Could she even come back from that, even based in water? 

Barbara sprung to mind. Dick had a sudden, desperate need to see her. To tell her the hundreds of things he should have. To apologize. To brush her hair back and get lost in her eyes. To her her voice and know that she was okay. To let her know he was okay. His chest hitched, pain not from the cold catching in it, but from a certainty that he wouldn’t see her. He wouldn’t get a chance to make up for all the dumb things he’d said, or find out if she still cared. If he had some hope beyond their friendship.

He missed her. No matter where they stood, he missed her. And now he was going to die and not even be able to tell her that. Taken and frozen by a heartsick dragon doing everything the wrong way. He wanted another chance with her, one better than Freeze had with Nora. 

“Some of the most skilled magicians reside in my father’s court.” Dick offered, in a desperate need to try again, to not lose everything, “Perhaps one of them could be of aid. If you were to return me home--”

“Do you doubt your ability to awaken her?” Freeze’s voice held a tone of warning, a rumble that reminded Dick he’d just admitted to eating an entire clan of nymphs because they wouldn’t do what he wanted.

“No, I only want what’s best for her. With them we could be assured of everything going right.” Dick said quickly. 

“I have tried magicians, none have succeeded.” Freeze told him, “This will work. It must.” 

Dick opened his mouth to argue further, but the ice in his chest expanded again, bursting against his ribs with bruising force, freezing the words he was going to say into a cry. Dick clutched at his chest and curled against himself again, his body shivering uncontrollably. 

“Rest.” Freeze said, standing, “That spell should not kill you before tomorrow night if you do not agitate it.” 

Dick coughed freezing air, balling his hand into his tunic. He was shaking, and shivering, his body an ache as if he’d been thrown in a river full of fresh snowmelt. “I-I-I” his teeth chattered and he snapped his mouth closed. 

Freeze hummed, and stood again, “You will need something else to warm you.” he mused, “However, I will not leave you unguarded again without ensuring you do not escape.” 

Dick wanted to argue that he was pretty sure he couldn’t escape. Moving hurt. Shifting seemed to make the ice creep further, or stab at him, or do a number of things that made his vision spin and his head light. He didn’t think he’d be able to walk to kiss Nora, let alone move to leave. 

Freeze left him alone and Dick laid back down. Well laid was generalizing it, he fell over, curled into a tight ball. He tugged his stupid pelt over a shoulder and to his chin. It took a few minutes but the pain in his chest settled back to the throb he was getting used to, and breathing was easier. He didn’t move from his huddle, having found about as much warmth as he was going to manage. 

He was left so long he dozed. He dropped in and out of consciousness as a warm haze settled over him. He was still freezing, his body shaking to the point where even the shaking hurt, but his drowsy mind had moved it aside, opting to daze and drift. He lost complete track of time, and found he didn’t care. Freeze would retrieve him when he needed him, until then he was going to hide from the cold as best as possible. 

He was shaken from the cold by Freeze entering again, something loud and metallic clanged while Dick kept his eyes squeezed shut. He didn’t care what the crazed dragon was doing, he just wanted to drift again. Air kicked up in the room again, sneaking under his pelt and through his tunic, somehow making everything colder. 

A claw grabbed him, latching around his chest, and hooking into the pelt to drag it up and over his face as the claw gripped. Dick yelped, as he was lifted, all traces of sleep falling away in the shock and pain of being moved. His mind was panic, worry, and pain. He had no idea what was going on, and didn’t waste the breath to find out. He thrashed, as Freeze carried him, kicking against the claws and pushing to try and escape. 

“Stop squirming, Pest.” Freeze grumbled. “I am moving you so I may leave to gather you more pelts.”

Dick switched his attempts at freedom, to simply trying to uncover his face, tugging at the pelt until he could peek out from it. Freeze lumbered towards a crudely built cage in the corner of the room. It seemed pieced together from bars and bits of the net, frozen in place by ice. Dick could smell the iron from even at that distance. 

He started fighting Freeze’s grip again, only to have it tighten on him. “If you do not move it should not burn you. But escape will be futile.” Freeze said before tossing him carelessly inside. 

Dick rolled slamming up against part of the net, raised up to be a back wall and screamed as fire lit his neck and skull again. He fell forward, scrambling back to bump into more iron, and more. Panic tore through his heart. The ice seemed to race through his blood, slowing and freezing it into a sluggish slush that fought his racing heart. Dick scooted his way to the middle of the cage and huddled there, as far from any of the iron as possible, his stomach already turning again as the poison seeped into him from the stifled air. 

“No.” he said, as the door slammed shut, Freeze locking it with a burst of icy air. “You can’t leave me in here, I’ll die. The iron is going to kill me.” 

“You will be fine while I am away.” Freeze told him, “I cannot say how long that will be, pelts for use are not as easy to come by as game is.” 

He left and Dick curled again on the floor, pressing close to the ice and straw below him if only because it was not iron. He pulled the pelt close again, over his head to try and block some of the sickening scent. 

It was cold. And Dick was cold. And he was alone. He was alone and he was going to die. Dick’s thought’s drifted in a circle as he waited. He was going to die. He knew that. He would not see Bruce or Damian. Wally or Barbara. He wouldn’t get to ruffle Tim’s hair or tease Jason again. He was going to die, but that did not stop him from missing his family or wanting them. He was going to die, but if he persevered at least he’d get to see Freeze’s face fall when Nora didn’t wake up. 

He felt bad for the nymph. His mind put any of his family or friends in her place and he could begin to understand Freeze’s desperation. He could not understand the dragon’s cruelty. A woman as kind as Freeze described her should not have fallen in with anything as terrible as Freeze was. He hoped his death did not inspire such cruelty in his family. They should not be embittered by this, he’d hate it. Hate to lose them twice like that. 

He couldn’t fall completely into despair. There was a chance of his rescue still. And with rescue could come a way to remove the spell over him. Bruce would come. Maybe Barbara had already seen his predicament and was sending his family after him. That, at least he could think on and turn over and over in his mind. He tugged the pelt into a more comfortable place against him and imagined Bruce destroying the wall of ice, Damian storming in his little fire melting the ice creeping over Dick, Wally speeding over to help him stand, and Barbara being there to hug him. 


	7. Wish

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There's some time left before Bruce can go after Dick, and waiting is the worst.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! After a too long delay, I am back. I got hit by the super triple threat of New Job + Moving + My sister getting married. It's taken me a while to bounce back from all that, and to find a new writing schedule. Hopefully I'll keep working on smoothing that out and we'll be back into a regular updating schedule. Thanks so much for being patient with me and this story, it's near and dear to me.
> 
> ~Dawn

First light. They could leave at first light. Bruce just had to wait that long before they were on the road heading to save Dick. If everything went right and they left on time. And everything would go right. Bruce would not tolerate a minute wasted when it came to saving Dick. It was just a few hours and it felt like hundreds. All Bruce wanted was to follow Damian’s suggestion and leave right then. They knew where Dick was and his entire being wanted to be there.

Eight hours that felt like an eternity while listening to a council of advisers argue about everything but his son. What about this meeting was so important that it interrupted his preparations to save Dick? If things like this resulted in Damian’s predictions being true-- Bruce didn’t want to think about it.

And even the start of the thought brought images of finding Dick frozen over, his glow snuffed out by ice. Finding his son half dead or permanently injured.

Damian was wrong. Bruce knew dragons. He’d spent enough time dealing with Talia and Ra’s to know them well. He might not have been raised by them, but he’d seen enough cruelty to know exactly what would happen to his son in this situation. Damian was wrong about Bruce’s knowledge, but he was right everywhere else. Dick would die if they could not reach him in time.

He refused to waste another second listening to these men prattle on.

“Is any of this in need of my immediate attention?” Bruce asked, his voice raised just above the din.

The sound of talking died and every face turned to him, as if they were just realizing Bruce was in their midst. He frowned, irritation flaring at them for calling him away for nothing. His hands curled into fists against the smooth wood of the table as he tamped down his anger.

“I’ll take that as a no. If anyone has something more important for me to do than work on rescuing my son, reconsider your request and ask me tomorrow.” he stood, chair scraping back with such force it teetered on two legs.

The stillness of the room was replaced with gaping faces as Bruce stormed past them and past Alfred, already stepping in, voice soft and already working to fix whatever scene Bruce had just caused. He didn’t care, he simply had to do something, and with that thought he strolled from the room.

He’d hardly left the room before he was swamped with new voices. Advisers, heads of this and that, gentry who’d slipped in to request help with outlying problems. A reminder that his people were still abuzz with worry about the dragon. They all wanted to know what he was going to do about the dragon. As if Bruce leading a whole battalion out in the morning after Freeze wasn’t enough of an answer for them.

He wanted to worry about Dick. He wanted to brood about his son. Wanted to go find his youngest and tell him they should hop on horses and go. He started on the problems. These were vital to finding Dick.

Systematically he forced each gnat to peel away from him, leaving happy with answers or irritated that he hadn’t done enough, but leaving all the same. As soon as he’d shaken them off he was surrounded again, enlisting a page boy to carry a growing stack of papers filled with requests.  

Bruce flopped in an unkingly manner into his chair in his office and sighed. He let his head drop into his hands for one, two, three seconds before a polite “Excuse me, sir?” reminded him he wasn’t alone and had little time for worrying. He took a final half second to tie all the loose ends of what if, worry, and the visions of his oldest dead and frozen and tied them into a tight ball shoving it all to the back of his mind.

He worked. His chest tight and heart feeling like it was going to break if he stopped. At some point the page disappeared and Bruce was left on his own. Someone came by and dropped off tea that went cold before he downed the cup in one go, suddenly too thirsty.

He fixed things, got up and checked on repairs to the walls. When he returned it was to call in men who could get things done and sent them back to hurry the work. He sent Lucius to announce a holiday following the repairing of city damages to further quell worries.

He worked through Alfred trying to pull him away to a meal. There was too much to do in order to make sure they left on time. He couldn’t afford to be late setting out in the morning. Dick couldn’t afford them to be late. So he brushed off food and kept going. He called in Jim to work out a new schedule for his men to institute regular drills against magical attacks. Then they worked out a series of scouting trips into the mountains to be done monthly against further attacks. They went over the plan for Dick’s rescue again and again and again until Jim stopped him, a hand on his own, his face worried.

“We’ll find him, I swear, but that won’t happen if we go over the plan again instead of starting to implement it.”

Bruce sighed and waved him off, standing a moment after he left, his body buzzing with a need to do something. He moved to the armory and supervised the collection of scale piercing weapons and fortified armor until his impatient snapping had him gently herded back out. 

He returned to his study and his maps was forced to pause when Alfred returned to strongarm him into actually eating. Alfred’s lightly veiled threats did little until he mentioned that Bruce needed his full strength to be able to go after Dick. That prompted him to set his pen down and pick up a warm roll. Alfred left, satisfied that the food would be eaten.

After that Bruce didn’t see anyone for hours. His candles turned to puddles of wax he refused to replace because replacing them would cost too much time. Instead he dug out the spelled orbs Alfred had created for him. They were marbled spheres that set on little wood stands. Bruce could tap them and they’d give off light bright enough to rival the sun. A series of taps could lower their level to something manageable. Glowglobes, Alfred had called them.

Dick had always been fascinated by them, and had pestered Alfred about letting him pour lightning into one early after their creation. Alfred had refused. Dick had tried anyway, getting the only real result anyone but his son had thought of, shattered rock, a slight cut to his forehead, and a young lad blinking away light spots for hours. Bruce smiled at the memory, even after the fact Dick had been insistent that they could use lightning to create light. Still sometimes he and Bruce would sit and puzzle out different ways it might work.

Bruce brushed his fingers over the globe and swallowed. They’d get him back, and then maybe he and Bruce would sit down again and try to figure things out. Maybe Damian could help out. The point was that Bruce was going to find him, and they could finish what they’d started.

He worked and worked and worked and the knot in his chest tightened and tightened, until at last it squeezed just so that he felt like his chest was going to break and his breath stuttered. He let his head drop into his hands. Too much. There was too much to do and all he wanted was to climb onto Nocturna’s back and fly towards his son. Something hitched, his chest? It did it again as he thought about Dick alone and frozen and terrified. Dick, who was probably waiting right then, counting on Bruce to come to save him. Dick who needed him.

Bruce saw his son again as a little boy. Terrified and shaking after an early kidnapping attempt. Remembered how the lad had clung to him. How he’d promised himself he’d protect this boy no matter what. And here he was sitting at a desk doing paperwork.

Damian was right. They should have left hours ago.

Bruce stood, his chair skittering back, threatening to topple. If it fell he didn’t know, he was out the door feet thumping down the stone halls as he clasped a heavy cape around his neck. He’d need his gear, and would Nocturna be easier to ride bareback or dare he risk a moment saddling her? His thoughts drifted briefly to his youngest, frustrated and upset, and one who’d never let him hear the end of leaving him, but he didn’t stop or turn or grab a surprised page boy to alert any of his children. He ran.

He ran right into Barbara, crashing into her and almost knocking her out of her chair, both of them crying out. Him with frustration, her in surprise.

“Don’t tell me there’s another dragon attacking the castle.” Barbara snapped, righting herself in her chair.

  
"Barbara, I’m sorry. I didn’t see you.” Bruce straightened, his mind settled by the crash. “I was-”

“On your way after Dick?” Barbara asked, eyebrow raised.

She seemed calm enough, but Bruce could read the worry in her voice, and noted her tense posture, sharp eyes watching him for confirmation. He swallowed back guilt, she was as worried about his son as he was. They’d always been close, only growing closer as they grew older, and she was keeping it together better than he was.

“Have you seen anything else with him?”

“If you mean did I see you charging out after him, then no I did not. If I had I wouldn’t have been in this corridor looking for you.”

Bruce straightened, suppressing his need to keep moving. Willing his feet not to move further towards his gear and son. “What do you need?”

Barbara eyed him, seeming to read his determination, “I know that look. Normally I wouldn’t say anything, but stop and think, Bruce.”

He huffed, and Barbara rolled her eyes.

“You can’t abandon everyone to go after Dick. That’s what you were doing, before I stopped you, and you can’t do it now. If you mobilized now you might be able to leave early, but I haven’t seen anything that might say leaving a few hours earlier will help.”

He pressed his lips together, “He needs me.”

“I know that.” Barbara answered, voice tight, “Don’t think I don’t know that. He needs all of us, but leaving on your own is suicide, even for you. He needs you alive, Bruce. Not mauled by the very dragon that took him.”

“It’s that dragon I’m worried about.” Bruce told her, fists tight at his sides.

“Listen, I’ll go take another look and see if there’s any indication we need to leave now, but there’s no way I’m letting you go by yourself. Damian would have a fit, and he’s just the start.”  
Bruce opened his mouth to answer, but a voice from behind him stopped him.

“Your Majesty, just the man I’ve been looking for.”

He turned to find Donna strolling towards them, determination written across her face. “Alfred said you were in your office, and here I find you heading towards the armory. Are we leaving early?”

Bruce bit back an answer of yes he was leaving early, even with Barbara’s warning in his mind. Everyone else could go out with the army in the morning. The more his feet were still the more reminders of responsibility weighed him down. All he wanted was to go after Dick, to save his son and ignore the backlash and questions he’d deal with when they returned.

“I’ve just received word of permission to join the rescue party.” Donna added.

“As if you needed it.” Barbara said, a small smile on her face, “Diana would have been a fool to tell you no, simply because she would not want to deal with you going against orders when you returned.”

Donna nodded, “She watched us grow up together.” her voice was softer now, and Bruce wanted to reach out to both women to comfort them, but the right words escaped him.  
“Dick will be happy to see you arrive.” He said instead.

Asking Donna to come along would not be a terrible idea, and he felt that he would never earn her forgiveness if he left her standing there. Hers or Barbara’s if he let his intentions go unknown. Having help would increase Dick’s chances of survival, and the Amazon looked ready to leap into battle that moment.

“I’ve just told Bruce that I’m going to look in on Dick again and update him.” Barbara said, “If something’s wrong would you have a problem with going out ahead of us while he prepares the army for an early start?”

Bruce shot her a look that said ‘traitor’ but turned his attention to Donna. He had no opposition to her going, besides the simple fact that it would not be him. The logistics of his leaving alone were starting to pile up and he didn’t like the thought of returning to deal with the consequences. Donna was highly capable and an excellent alternative to himself. Besides, if Barbara did find something disturbing they would only be a few hours behind her.

“I’m happy to help however I can.” Donna answered.


	8. Telepathic Bond

Barbara watched as Bruce left them, probably heading off to plan how to start mobilizing before she’d even gone to look in on Dick. She’d been coming to warn him of the glimmers of a vision she’d received about Damian. The image of him in the armory angrily stuffing his quiver full. She pushed down a wave of guilt thinking of the youngest prince and the way he’d looked when Bruce had carried him in the previous day. Guilty and panicked and hurt. Her little friend already blaming himself for not saving Dick. 

She could have stopped it. She could have prevented all this if she’d only thought to look. If she hadn’t brushed off Damian’s warning’s as a need for attention and a desire to be outside and exercise away from rain and thunder. If she’d listened then maybe she would have had more time with Dick. 

She shook away the thoughts and turned to Donna, “Someone should tell Wally you’re coming with us, he may even want to go with you if you leave early.” 

“He’s here?” she asked.

Barbara nodded, “He arrived just in time to have missed all the action and wouldn’t stop pacing in the viewing room until I tried to check on Dick for him.” 

Donna shifted towards her, “And?” 

“And nothing.” Barbara sighed, “I managed to find a location for him for Bruce, and since then I’ve gotten nothing. No glimmer of the cave he is in, nor a look at his state.” 

She swallowed back the vision she’d received. Dick tangled in an iron net as Freeze descended from flight into a mountain range, scattered trees below that began a forest. Dick pale and unmoving, what she could see of his skin too red against the washed out look of his face.    
It made her sick. It made her furious. At Freeze, at herself, at the whole situation. 

“Do you think there’s something blocking your visions? Perhaps the dragon has shielded his cave?” Donna asked. 

The thought had crossed her mind, but how would a dragon know to shield from her? Or had Freeze simply gotten lucky when setting protections on his cave an managed to throw something up that blocked her visions? Either way it was making her angry, she’d rather have visions that were difficult to understand over none at all. Her heart ache at the thought that her last image of Dick would be one where he was in pain. 

“It’s possible, but an oracle’s visions are tricky things.” She answered, not wanting to admit her fears out loud, and make them real, “I might simply be trying to be too specific.”    


She looked down the hall where Bruce had disappeared. 

“What are you going to do about the King’s request?” she asked. 

“I’m going to follow it and try to find Dick one more time.” 

Donna nodded, “Mind if I join you?” 

“Of course not.” 

They had to leave the castle to get to the observatory Barbara used to view and collect visions. It was the king’s, situated directly in the center of town and raised as the highest structure in the town. Bruce rarely went there for anything beyond consulting Barbara, and she liked it that way. It was her own private place, away from the bustle of castle activities, but close enough that if she had to head over to get her way she could. 

They took the lift up, Donna deciding against flights and flights of stairs in favor of standing beside her friend. When they reached the top Barbara grinned. She never got tired of seeing her array of crystals set in the room’s center, glittering and powerful, they’d been her first breakthrough in doing more with her powers than simply trying to remember everything. 

They had worked first in enhancing her visions, then Alfred had helped her spell them to hold visions. They’d moved onto creating a reflecting pool next, set in the center of the crystal ring. It did little to enhance, but that wasn’t the goal. It held copies of each vision and important memories that Barbara could revisit when trying to break open a case or study something further. It was her center of operations and she couldn’t be more proud of it. Barbara directed Donna to stand against one of the far walls in the room as she situated herself in front of the largest of her mirrored crystals. It would mirror her vision for Donna to see real time, and hopefully together they’d have something to give Bruce. If she could get through this time. 

She placed her hands against it, closed her eyes, and breathed. 

There was a trick to getting the visions she wanted. Early on she’d get random, unwanted visions with little reference to help her decipher them. She still did sometimes, usually those posing disaster or trouble and had to race to figure them out before they came to pass. Over time she’d honed the ability to be able to lock onto things she needed to see. It worked best if she knew the person or place she was looking for, but she wasn’t limited to her own experiences. 

She let her mind focus on Dick. He chest bubbling with warmth at remembering his smile and the silly pranks they played as children. The way he’d blown off his date at the first ball they’d both attended together in years when he’d seen her. Mouth dropping open, hands forgetting they were supposed to be holding another woman as they danced, his feet already deftly pushing through the crowd towards her.

Tears pricked her eyes. She missed him. Missed how close they’d been. Missed how they could tell each other everything. Missed how easy it had been to talk to him before all the fighting and the reasons buried too far to find. When she got him back, and she would, they’d fix things. Their relationship, no matter the form, was so much more important than fights that should have been put aside long ago. 

She breathed again and cleared old memories. Bringing to her mind his face as recent as she could. Hair pulled back by one of his favorite circlets, climbing onto the back of a horse, Damian riding next to him as they left on their picnic.  

Here was the part that hadn’t been working lately. Her mind clouding over the past of what she was looking for, to change into something new. Something she had not experienced. The last seven times she’d tried the clouds never lifted. Fog and blackness were her only companions.    
This time was different. This time the fog began to lift.

She saw Damian first, then Wally sneaking around a rocky outcropping and up to a wall of ice. She knew they were at Freeze’s cave. Could feel a sickly cold kind of magic radiating off it. She tried to push into it, past the ice and towards Dick, but something repelled her. Her mind flashed with ice, her chest hitched, breath fogging and the vision changed, jumping to Damian as a dragon, scaling the cave’s wall, searching for something. Wally’s voice distant and garbled. Bronze glinted, reflecting sunlight as Damian wiggled into a hole, temporarily blinding Barbara’s sight.

It cleared to show a forest. Trees and plants crying out, reaching for something. Her ears filled with the sound of panicked running, panted breaths. She turned her head hearing a gasp of pain, the leaves curling back as there was a cry of pain. A dragon's’ roar. 

She saw Dick. Curled in on himself, something glowed unnaturally against his chest before it disappeared. His face was paler than her last vision, red welts that hadn’t healed yet stark against the sickly white skin. His usual glow flickered before it went out all together. The vision cut out, the room returning to normal in front of her, the crystal reflecting Dick still curled in on himself, white as death. 

“No!” she shouted, hands slamming against the crystal, eyes squeezing shut again, “Give it a little more time. Let me see a little longer.” 

Nothing. Not even the fog would cloud her mind again. She was too worried. Too much panic and fear filled her mind for another vision to form. She slammed a fist against it again, pain racing up her arm. 

A hand touched her shoulder, the touch making her jerk back. She looked up into Donna’s worried face.

“He’s not,” Barbara had to steady her breathing, “He’s not dead. He was hit with a spell, some kind of magic, that’s all.” 

“I didn’t say he was.” Donna said, “But this is dire news, we must tell the king. We have to do something.” 

They called Alfred on a stone of farspeech as they made their way back to the castle, making sure Bruce was pulled away from what he was working on and into a private room.    


His face paled seeing Barbara.

“What happened, what did you see?” 

“Dick’s situation might be worse than we thought. I’m not sure if it was the future or past I saw. However, he might or has already tried to escape and it does not go well.” Barbara said, “If it’s still in the future we may be able to prevent it, and if it’s already happened he’s going to need our help more than before. Freeze hit him with a spell.”

“Prince Damian and Wally are gone as well.” Donna said, “They were at the cave, trying to get in.” 

If Bruce were of the habit of showing much emotion Barbara would describe his face as a storm of emotions. As it was, even the minor changes, his breath hitching, eyes widening for a moment, adam's apple bobbing as he swallowed back worry, were enough to tell her he was affected. 

“I cannot go.” Frustration laced the words, “The situation here is not one I can step away from right now.”

“Send me then, we already talked about this happening.” Donna said, “Say I’m going after the boys to keep them safe if anyone asks. It won’t be a lie, they’ll need my help, but I’ll also be going after Dick.” 

Bruce stood there, pondering her words. 

“It’s the best chance we have for them, faster even than you riding out this moment. An army is slow and can have difficulties along the road, a single person will move much faster.” Barbara said, trying to keep her tone even. Shouting right now wouldn’t do them any good. Bruce knew what his options were.

He nodded, “Go. Do not let him die before I arrive.” 

Donna left the moment the words were out of his mouth, not quite running down the hall. Bruce turned to Barbara, “Find Alfred. We are leaving the moment I get things settled here.” 

They parted ways, Barbara found Alfred easily and immediately moved to find Donna. She was in the armory, strapping a huge sword to her back, one Barbara knew would burn with an unquenchable flame if used properly. She pressed a speaking stone into Donna’s palm.

"Keep me updated. Don’t go an hour without telling me something, even if it’s the color of the sky.” she said, “Promise me.” 

Donna wrapped her hand over Barbara’s, the connection warm and grounding. Something that tried to ease the knots of panic in her stomach, “I promise,” then, “He’s going to be fine, Barbara.”    


She nodded, not willing to let go of Donna’s hands, but pulling hers away eventually, “Go, make sure he is.”

With that she hurried from the room and back towards the observatory. The vision of Dick frozen and injured lingered in her mind and she hoped to find something else out before everyone left. Perhaps if she tried she could see into tomorrow, past the cave and army’s march and into a point where Dick was safe. Anything to erase the feeling of dread that had settled in her. 

She set herself in front of the crystal again, palms against the cool stone. Please she thought Give me something hopeful. Barbara squeezed her eyes closed and focused on Dick, wishing for the future, for something clear. Her abilities didn’t always work this way. She couldn’t just choose to see what she wanted to, but sometimes she got lucky. 

She pictured him smiling, safe and tired but safe. She imagined him home, curled beneath thick furs and holding her hand, making jokes about dragon’s breath and taking an adventure too far. She willed him to be okay. Happy and as uninjured as possible. 

The fog hovered over her vision, and there was his face smiling at her, mouth moving to say something she couldn’t make out. Then everything shuddered, freezing magic pushing against her mind. Babs pushed back.The memory of seeing Dick frozen and hurting and needing help burned in her chest. This time she wasn’t going to let whatever magic Freeze had in place stop her. She pushed. Shoving her mind and being and fury- at Freeze, at Dick being hurt, at not being able to go there and save him- shoved it all at the magic and then she was through the pressure fighting her giving way and fog lifting until she saw it. 

Immediately the magic tried to draw her back, push her out of the cave, but she wasn’t having it. 

Fury pushed her movement inside and towards a crudely constructed iron cage that rested at the back of a large cavern, in its center rested a huddled figure. Barbara hurried closer, fighting the resisting magic still trying to keep her from being there. It was Dick, covered only just by a single fur pelt and unmoving. The veins in his neck were clearly visible, a stark blue against his white skin. She stared at him a long moment willing his chest to move willing something to happen. Nothing did. Her stomach turned, empty and tight, and sick. In her grief and fear she lost her grip on the magic and the ice spell dragged her back, pulling her vision back and away, flinging her sight into blackness. 

Barbara gasped, opening her eyes, her hands clutching at her chest. No no no. This was wrong. All wrong. Dick couldn’t be--this wasn’t right. That couldn’t be his future. He’s smiled at her. Spoken words. He wasn’t dead in a cage, left to rot. That vision couldn’t be true. It was false, something created as a reaction to her pushing against the protective spell.  

But her mind would not let go of the image of those veins. Unnatural and still. Of Dick’s face, washed further out than it had been the last time she’d seen it. Her heart jerked painfully against her chest, her mind trying everything it could to come up with something different. 

He couldn’t be dead. He couldn’t. They had to be in time to save him.

But she’d wished. She’d tried. She’d wanted the future. And this was all her visions would give her. Was it all they could? Because that was the only thing left to show? Was that future set in stone? 

Failure crashed over her, failure and grief. It wasn’t right. Wasn’t fair. She hadn’t known to look. But if she had. If she’d been on the lookout for danger days ago Dick would be fine. He’d be alive and warm and smiling at her with that stupid grin. 

The clatter of hooves on pavement pulled her from her vision for a moment, and she glanced at the observatory’s window to see the king and his company riding out, as fast as was safe in the city. Too late, she wanted to scream out at them, you’re too late. Instead she turned back to the crystal and put a palm against it to pull up the recording, maybe there was something she’d missed, maybe there was a clue to prove she was wrong. 


	9. Detect Magic

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! I am back. With Dick and Dami week over, and Forcecage wrapped up I can finally turn my attention back to HeartFreeze. I'm going to try to keep things weekly again update wise but I'll let you all know if that plan changes. Life is a bit crazy right now so it's always possible things might bottleneck again for me.

Damian urged Hestia from a gallop into a trot as he pulled a map from his bag to consult. They had been on a steady incline for half an hour now, moving quickly when a trail was evident and slower when the land grew rough again. The mountain range they were picking their way across was one of the one’s Father prided his land on having, a natural barrier to enemies from afar.

It was also an excellent hiding place for a frost dragon. The air grew colder and colder the higher they went, with snow capping the highest of the peaks. Damian did not believe they’d have to climb that far to find Freeze’s cave. It would be foolish for the dragon to go for the obvious location. Especially when there were hundreds of caverns that dotted the range already, many easy enough to make one’s home with a little magic.

Next to him, Wallace slowed his own mount’s pace to match Hestia’s. Damian could feel the man’s gaze digging into him and he tried to keep his concentration on the paper before him. He frowned at it, searching the dark lines with interest.

The map had been drawn by an expert hand. His father’s kingdom sat on the page, laid out in clean lines that never wavered or doubted. Tiny script, the letters clean and even, detailed names of cities and major roads. It marked the mountain range they were crossing, and the land beyond. The handwriting was Father’s. Damian wondered if he had copied the map from the hundreds that littered an old corner of the library or if his father had made this one himself.

Father had mentioned once that he had walked the entire kingdom in his early years, in order to better understand it and it’s people. It had been to have a feel for the land that would be his own. That story had come out on a cold night as they’d sat by the fire in his study, as Damian sat trying his best to relearn the names of each thing in his father’s country, the words odd on his tongue, clunky in place of the draconic ones he’d learned for them.

“Maybe you’ll wander the land one day too.” Father had said.

Damian had not expected his wanderings to be like this. He had imagined wild adventures by Richard’s side. He’d pictured travels with Jonathan and Father himself. In his mind those were to be happy events. Ones of joy and growth and life. They were nothing like this terror filled race to find his brother. This was the opposite of what he’d wanted.

A second hand, it’s lines heavier than Father’s, had laid out paths marking each of Freeze’s known haunts, and possible locations for a den the dragon would have holed up in. It was half a map to Damian. Not enough information to get him exactly where he needed to be, but just enough that he, at least, had the ability to pinpoint Richard’s location without having to check each individual location.

How his father had ever even considered benching him for this was beyond Damian. Injured or not he had the best chance of locating the dragon the fastest. He could feel magic opposing his own in the air. It pricked at him, like thousands of tiny needles trying to find purchase against his skin. The off feeling he’d had leading up to the dragon’s attack was back, twirling in his stomach and itching at his mind. It warned him of a foe close by.

Even if Freeze was not in his den when they found him, the aura of the dragon’s magic was so heavy in the air Damian would be easily led to the opening, simply by way of following the pressure. And there they would find Richard. Alive and sound or Freeze would face Damian’s wrath.

“So?” Wallace asked.

Damian huffed, turning his head to address his companion. “We are between two possible locations. If you’ll give me some time I can determine which direction Freeze’s magic feels strongest in.”

“Not too much time, I hope. Dick’s life--”

“I know that.” Damian spat back, smoke trailing from his words as the fire inside him roared in response to the man’s gall. To suggest Damian would not be considering Richard’s life in every moment until they found him was infuriating.

His reaction was so strong it startled Hestia slightly, and she whinnied, shaking her head. He sucked in a breath, leaning forward to pat her neck.

“I know.” he said, calmer now, “I will not let Richard die because I wasted time.”

Wallace nodded, “I’m sorry. I’m just worried about him.”

“As am I.” Damian said, “Now shut up and allow me to figure out the best path.”

He didn’t technically need Wallace’s silence, but it was a nice touch. Damian did not want to discuss how much danger his brother was in again. He did not want to think about what Freeze might have done to him while they had wasted time planning and recovering and doing all the unnecessary things they had done. He wanted to find him. He wanted this whole terrible event to be over.

He focused on the feeling of Freeze’s opposing frost magic, searching for where it felt strongest. It pushed at him from the north, but slightly westerly it felt stronger, like a wall trying to keep him out. All of his senses were telling him to run. To turn from this magic that could snuff his flame in in an instant and find safety.

Damian turned Hestia towards the feeling, “This way. He will be in the caves marked closest to Brentwood Pass.”

They pushed as far ahead as they could on the path before veering off it and into the trees that climbed the side of the mountain proper. There was no proper path to this particular area of caves, quite possibly because it had been deemed too dangerous by map makers, or because there was an outpost only a few miles further, that would be both safer and more easily stocked than the caves tucked out of the way.

Damian eventually climbed off Hestia to help her pick her way through the underbrush. Wallace followed his lead, dismounting from his own mare to follow close behind. This close Damian felt like he was breathing in Freeze’s magic, the feeling of it that had pricked across his skin now shivering it’s way down his throat and trying to spread through his body. He wished he could change into his dragon form and feel warmer, but that would force Wallace to lead both horses and make things slower.

Still, the magic could not mask the scent of pine surrounding them. Fresh and bright, smelling it could almost convince Damian that they were taking a leisurely hike instead of being on a rescue mission. It was cold up here, but not freezing. The wind whistled through the trees, creating a rustle of movement all around. Pine needles sometimes fluttered and fell, catching in Damian’s hair and against Hestia’s mane.

It was a scene Richard would love. Damian could see him stopping to speak to the trees and praise them for their height and strength. He could picture the way his brother’s eyes would light up as they walked, describing the types of plants and their lifespans. The way he might tell Damian of the stories the trees whispered in his ears.

“Damian! I think I’ve found something!”

Damian scowled at the voice of the man, who’d gone on ahead of him, and hurried Hestia deeper into the trees to where they began to break open into craggy mountainside. Wallace was dismounted and staring down at the ground. Damian rolled his eyes but climbed off Hestia’s back all the same. He moved forward, intent on first correcting the man in his error and secondly to get them back on track.

“It is Prince Dami--” the word broke as Damian stepped into a field of lingering magic so strong it stole his breath.

If moving towards Freeze’s domain had felt like pinpricks of ice trying to find purchase on his skin, this felt as if he’d been dropped through ice into a frozen lake. For a moment he could not breathe, he could not move. Then Wallace turned around to see what had made him stop and locked eyes with him.

“Hey, what’s wrong?”

Damian sucked in the air his lungs demanded of him and stepped closer. His entire body shook with cold, “Do you not feel it?” he asked.

“Feel what?” Wallace frowned, “This patch of grass is frozen, is that what you mean?”

“Magic, powerful, though I cannot name the spell.” Damian said, “You said the grass is frozen?”

Damian ignored the continuing bells of alarm in his head, and the way his stomach had began to swim. It was sickening to be around this much magic that opposed Damian’s own nature. His fire flickered and fought at the cold raising hairs on his arms. He could not turn away from this, he had to know what had happened.

The grass was indeed frozen. The patch glittered brilliantly in the sun, like crystals spilled from a bag. It was like looking at a sculpture, each blade frozen perfectly as it had stood or fluttered in the wind. However, the patch wasn’t a perfect circle, nor was it completely filled in with the ice. There was a strange bit, not quite frozen, yet browned, in it’s center where a figure must have rested when the spell had been cast.

Damian’s stomach twisted thinking about what had happened here. It had been nothing good, that was for certain. He knelt by the grass and ran his hand over it, it was so cold it burned his palm and he yanked his hand back with a gasp.

“What do you think?” Wallace asked.

“Something terrible happened here.” Damian said, bringing his hand up to blow warm air on it. It stilled the burning cold some, and brought a bit of life back into a palm that had been reddened and chilled.

Light flickered out from the brown grass, catching Damian’s attention. He reached for it, careful to keep his arm from brushing the frozen bits, and plucked two earrings from the dirt. The gold of their hooks was tangled together keeping the pair as one, and making it easy for Damian to have found them both at the same time.

The bright sapphire stones in their centers were as familiar to Damian as the circlet that rested atop his brow, these had been Richards. They were one of his favorite pairs due to the way they highlighted his eyes.

Richard had been here. He had taken the brunt of whatever magical attack Freeze had sent his way. Damian swayed from where he was crouched, his head light. He fell back to sit on the ground, and clutched the earrings close to his chest.

“No.” he whispered, “No, no, no no no.” There was roaring in his head, and the glittering grass blurred in his vision. Damian blinked and felt hot tears building up. He sucked in a breath and blinked the tears back, he couldn’t fall apart now.

“Damian?” Wallace had knelt next to him, and placed a hand on his shoulder, “What’s wrong? What did you find?”

“Richard.” Damian said, “He was here.”

He felt Wallace tense next to him, and heard a sharp inhale of breath, “He tried to get away.”

“He failed.” Damian said, voice hoarse.

He shook off Wallace’s hand and stood, “We cannot afford to waste any more time.”

Damian tried to orient himself again, to find the push of magic that had been his directing path to Freeze’s lair, but his head was still swimming. The air was too thick with magic, it was overloading all his senses. He had to fight back angry tears again.

He needed to reign in his emotions and calm down. But his heart was racing and his head hurt, his stomach still felt sour against everything. He couldn’t think, let alone track his brother. His breathing began to speed up, shallow breaths replacing the calm natural ones he’d been breathing only a moment before. He was going to fail. Richard was probably dead. A spell so strong it’s effects lingered this long and heavy was a killing spell.

He’d seen as much back home. He’d watched dragons cast furious magic, strong enough to take down creatures Freeze’s size or larger many times. This spell felt the same, if of a differing element. Damian knew that if Freeze wished it his brother would be dead.

“Damian, hey kiddo, it’ll be alright. We’re gonna find him, okay?” Wallace said, standing now and in front of Damian.

He placed his hands on Damian’s, still clutched around the earrings, “I promise, we’re going to find your brother, but first I need you to breathe.”

Damian tried to suck in a deep breath, it was foolish to fall to such panic with Wallace here. It took a few attempts to calm his breathing and blink away the dizzy spots that had been growing at the edge of his vision.

“I am fine. However, with this much magic in the air I do not believe I can continue tracking Richard’s location.”

Wallace grinned at him, prompting a scowl from Damian. What could the man find joyful about this situation?

“That’s alright. I think I can take it from here.”

“And what magic are you following?” Damian snapped.

“Footprints.” Wallace said, pointing to where the grass began to climb up the edge of the mountain again, eventually turning into plants and dirt, “It looks like Dick climbed down from that direction. I doubt he was doing much to hide his tracks, meaning it should be easy enough to discover where he came from.”

Damian nodded, still somewhat shaken, “Lead on.”

They collected their horses and continued up, Damian following Wallace as he picked his way up, following Richard’s path backwards. His focus was still scattered, his steps less sure, as he tried to shake off the overwhelming feel of Freeze’s lingering magic, and as he tried to convince himself that Richard was not dead.

Even if Freeze had not done away with Richard, Damian knew his brother was not doing well. Being hit by magic that powerful was sure to leave an impact. Whatever spell he’d put Richard under would be dangerous, and Damian would have to keep an eye on his brother until they could get him home, if he made it that far.

They climbed to a rocky ledge. Wallace threw his hand out to stop Damian moving further, “Careful, there’s an opening.”

Damian leaned over to find a hole with more of Freeze’s magic drifting up from it. All the sick feeling from before came flooding back to Damian as he looked at what used to be a person sized hole, now filled in mostly with ice. It was wide enough that Damian might be able to wiggle down in his dragon form if he could melt it just a little.

The thought of climbing down through ice made by Freeze sent a shudder through him. Damian hated the cold. Worse than that, cold ate away at his own fire and made him feel tired and weak. It was his opposite in all ways, and as he was, Damian was not large enough yet to be able to fight off Freeze’s ice effectively with his own flame.

“We’ve found it.” The declaration came out as a gasp from Damian’s lungs, “Somewhere close should be the opening to the cave. Freeze must use this to ensure airflow through the lair.”

Wallace became a blur, leaving Damian on the ledge with a puff of cold air. It only took a few moments before the man was back. His hair was windblown, his cheeks ruddy with the slight exertion.

“This way, there’s an animal trail leading down to what looked like an opening.”

He followed Wallace again, down and around until they hit the trail. It was obvious when they reached it that the trail had been used by animals at one time. Now, drag lines crossed it, fresher than the old path, perhaps from Freeze pulling along prey he had captured.

They left their horses tied to a thick copse of brush like trees, sturdy against the rocky land it grew on. Then they pushed forward towards the towering opening that was the entrance to Freeze’s cave. Damian was ready to rush forward, to dive inside and save his brother. Only he couldn’t. The opening had been frozen shut with a large slab of blue ice. 


	10. Chapter 10

Bruce kept his horse at a steady pace as the rode. If he could be at a full gallop he would, but it was unwise to push the company to go that quickly. Besides they were making excellent time. Jim had fallen back from his place in the front of the riding to update Bruce a few times already of their progress and Bruce was confident they'd arrive before the end of the day. Still, it wasn’t enough. Bruce was sure no update would be until they were there.

Until Dick was safe and sound again.

Their travel was made swift by clear tracks left by Damian, Wally, and Donna’s previous passage. In addition to that, they had their maps. However, Bruce had a feeling that following the tracks would be the best option, maps or not.

Damian had been able to sense Freeze coming days before the dragon had attacked them, it stood to reason his boy could use that same sense to find Freeze. That, coupled with their maps, made it almost certain that Damian and Wally would find Dick, and Bruce would follow them. All the way to the monster who took his son’s front door.

Bruce was a roiling mass of anger, impatience, and worry. Worry for Dick. Worry for Damian and Wally who’d foolishly run off on their own. Worry for every single man he was taking with him against a full grown dragon.

A horse and it’s rider drew close to him, pulling Bruce’s attention from his own worries to those around him. He smiled seeing Cassandra riding her black mare, she matched his smile.

“How are you?” Bruce asked.

“Fine.” she said, “Antsy.”

She wiggled a little on her horse, and Bruce knew the long ride was starting to get to her. He could see the anxious tilt to her body as she road, and he could only guess what she read in him.

“So are you.” she said after a moment, “We will find them. Dick is strong, soon he will be safe at home.”

Bruce allowed his smile to drop a little, “We don’t know what’s going to happen, or even what has happened.”

“Oracle believes him to be fine.”

“Her visions are not always accurate.”

Cass squished her face at him, scrunching her nose and puckering her lips, “Trust her. Trust me, all will be well.”

Bruce let out a sigh, “Who am I to doubt either of you?”

Cass grinned at that, “You would be foolish to doubt.”

They rode together some time in quiet. That was one of the things Bruce loved about spending time with Cassandra. They could exist together in silence and be comfortable that way. No need to chat or talk, no need to do much but enjoy each other’s company. It was often a nice relief from the chatter and buzz of his life.

His daughter kept shifting on her horse, and Bruce finally turned to her again, “If you want, you can fly overhead. Check to make sure we’re still following the tracks.”

Cass wasted no time changing from girl to crow, black and silky, to rise above them all. She cawed at Bruce and then set off towards the front of the group. He grabbed her abandoned horse’s reins and found a soldier to hand them off to, to make sure her mare did not get lost.

He wondered why, of all the creatures she could shift into, she’d picked the crow. Perhaps it blended best with their surroundings and would go unnoticed by the men riding with them. Perhaps it had simply been the first thing on her mind. Bruce rarely knew why his daughter chose a form to shapeshift into. 

Bruce decided he needed to see his other children. If Cass was that anxious about their trip the others must feel the same. He needed to stop and speak with Jason and Tim. Worry for them tugged at Bruce, he'd hoped to convince all his family to stay behind to protect the castle (and themselves) at the last minute, but the boys and Cass had been unmoving on the subject. At the very least he knew Stephanie, Duke, and Alfred would be fine. That they would be there to take care of issues while they were away.

He dropped back to ride close to Tim, the boy had been quieter than usual as they’d set out and on the journey so far. As Bruce’s mount fell into line beside Tim’s he could see his son’s hands worrying his horse’s reins.

“Worried?” he asked, “Or simply tired of riding already?”

Tim shook his head, “I can’t get Damian’s words out of my head, all the terrible things he said frost dragons can do.”

“Dick’s going to be fine.” Bruce said, echoing Cass’s earlier words, “He’s strong and smart enough to survive until we get there.”

Tim shrugged, “I know, only, not a lot scares Damian like that.”

That, was the root of what was bothering Bruce too. Damian didn’t scare, or he didn’t show he was scared. And Damian had been terrified. Bruce had known his youngest long enough to be able to read that in him, no matter what form he chose.

“You’re both being stupid.” Jason’s voice came from Bruce’s other side.

Both he and Tim swiveled their attention to him. Jason rolled his eyes at them.

“Dick’s too stubborn to let anyone, let alone a frost dragon, kill him. He might be a little banged up, but we’ve all been that way at some point or another.” he eyed them both, “So stop all this worrying and start remembering all those lessons on dragon slaying.”

With that, Jason grinned a toothy grin and moved his horse ahead of them to chat with one of the soldiers.

“He’s worried in his own way.” Tim said, watching after him, “But he’s also right, you both are. Dick’s going to be fine.”

Bruce could hear the marked determination in Tim’s voice, see it in the way he gave himself a small nod when finishing it.

“Yes. He will.” Bruce agreed.

* * *

Barbara did not think she would have been able to sleep until someone returned with news of Dick’s fate, but mere hours after Bruce left she found herself nodding off in front of her scrying crystals. She’d spent so a lot of time and energy running over her last vision, again and again, in order to learn something and it caught up with her in the worst way.

All she’d been left with was exhaustion and the image of Dick, curled up and freezing, seared into her mind.

She meant to rest her eyes. That’s all she’d intended when she’d folded her arms on the table and used them as a temporary pillow. Instead she fell asleep almost as soon as she closed her eyes.

The dream flickered to life in bright vibrant color, dropping Barbara into the scene as if she’d been there herself. She knew, glancing around the cave, that even with the repetition of seeing it earlier, this was no dream playing out to help her break down a problem. This was a vision.

She was in the cave where Dick was being held. He was still curled in a cage, his skin still pale as ice, his veins crawling with blue. All she wanted was to hurry over to him, to pull him from the cage and cradle him in her arms, warming his skin. Most of all, Barbara wanted to make sure Dick was alive and still breathing.

She didn’t have time to linger on him as Damian came running into the main room from a side corridor. Bronze glittered in an explosion against the ice walls of the cave as light reflected off his scales and danced between them and the ice. His claws clicked against the floor as he ran in, locking onto Dick’s location immediately.

He cried out, and moved to do exactly as Barbara had wanted to, running for his brother, the clatter of his claws amplified now as he ran pell mell towards the cage.

The scene shifted, Dick and Damian were out of the cage, and Damian was wailing, black smoke pouring from his nose as he screamed. Wally crouched next to him, Dick laid out between them unmoving. Tears streaked Wally’s cheeks, his face red and swollen as he sobbed.

Barbara felt her heart break. No. No. It couldn’t be true, Dick couldn’t be dead, they had to have found him in time. Her last vision should have been false. He should be fine.

The vision moved again, and the first thing Barbara saw was fire flickering and bright. Orange lightning fought with blue fire, sparking steam between the two of them. When the steam faded, Barbara saw Wally collapse on the ground, a pool of blood spreading out from under him.

She couldn’t help but gasp, her heart constricting. Not Wally too. No one else should die. She didn’t want to lose anyone else.

Across the room, Damian screamed, and threw himself at Freeze, his tiny form easily dwarfed by the larger dragon’s. He didn’t seem to notice the wing aimed in his direction, tipped with a vicious claw, it was obvious that the attack was aimed to kill.

“No!” Barbara shouted, but her voice wasn’t to be heard, her warning to stop echoing only to herself.

Damian’s furious cry broke off as the wing hit him, bronze scattering as the clawed end dug into Damian’s side. He tumbled over, rolling in a heap before Freeze raked him with his hand, shredding the smaller dragon like he was paper under a knife.

Barbara screamed, tears pricking her eyes. No more. No more. She didn’t want to see any more. She squeezed her eyes closed, hoping that would block things out, turn off the vision.

When she opened them again the cave was burning, and roaring with voices. Bodies littered the floor as Bruce’s men fell one by one against Freeze’s attacks. Bruce himself headed the battle, his sword clanging against claws, his shield braced against freezing flames. Donna fought next to him, rage consuming her features.

Barbara didn’t want to watch. She knew what was going to happen. No one was surviving this battle. No one was going to return to her. She was going to be alone. Her friends and family decimated.

Tears blurred her vision. She ran the back of her hand across her face, trying to blink away the tears. When she looked back up the cave was quiet again. Bruce had fallen on top of Dick. Donna beside Wally. Freeze’s broken, shattered form was littered with the bodies of soldiers, arrows piercing his scales, blood oozing slowly from scattered wounds.

It wasn’t worth it. Nothing was worth the carnage before her.

Barbara stared at the scene for what felt like hours. She stayed there so long it felt like her blood had frozen in her veins, like the tears on her cheeks had crystallized. And then, finally, she woke up.


	11. Haste

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Forgive my slight lateness with this chapter. Things have been a bit wild for me. We had some major flooding at the library I work at, and then I had a con I went to this past weekend that 1. I had to finish my cosplay for and 2. took up a good deal of time/exhausted me. As a result I was out of the time/energy to finish this before Monday. But hey! A day late is better than months, right?

Damian was furious. The ice wall was a stumbling block he had not anticipated. He was further irritated by the fact that it was fogged over in a way that prevented real vision into the cave it protected.

He could feel the magic radiating off it like waves of cold. Here, everything was stronger, more overpowering. Damian felt sick with the foreign magic surrounding him, poisoning his breath, and fogging his mind. It was infuriating.

“Now what are we going to do?” Wallace asked, tapping on the ice.

“We are going to melt it.” Damian stated, unsure if he could even manage a flame large or long enough to melt even a hole for himself, let alone Wallace or Richard.

The redhead raised an eyebrow at him, “You mean you’re going to melt it. if you can.”

“Tt. Do not doubt my abilities.”

Damian changed forms, slipping easily into his dragon self.

Freeze’s magic felt stronger as a dragon. Like it was actively fighting Damian’s being. It made sense, they were creatures of opposite forces. Ice and fire. As a dragon, Damian was more in tune with the differences, and could feel the opposing magic deeper.

He tried to ignore it as he positioned himself in front of the wall, planting his feet as if he were preparing for a blow. Damian focused, drawing in air enough to fill his lungs. He’d need all he could to start melting this.

The taste of flame was odd. Father claimed he produced some kind of ‘fluid’ that reacted with a ‘spark’ and that the two together with the air from his lungs created the flame. He had learned this after many many close calls and blackened faces (after Pennyworth gave him a fireproof spell).

To Damian it was far more simple than that. An action he hardly remembered learning. It was the flavor of smoke and brimstone. A flexing of a muscle he had always known. It was a part of him he didn’t need an explanation of or about.

Though, he was constantly frustrated by how erratic his flame seemed. Erratic and weak. Both things Mother had rarely approved of.

Father had tried to help soothe his frustrations by telling Damian that he was still growing and the muscles and parts of him that produced his flame would continue to grow and strengthen as he aged and used it.

Science would not help him here if his flame gave out. It would only serve to remind Damian that he was not enough. Not good enough. Not big enough. Not strong or old or competent or practiced enough. All failings that would prevent him saving his brother.

He released his flame, aimed at what he hoped was a thinner portion of the ice.

Damian blew and blew and blew until he was exhausted, his flame a spluttering mess of wasted potential.

He coughed, his chest catching on the freezing air kicked up by his attempt. He couldn’t quite catch his breath, in that way that happened when he pushed himself too hard during training. His head felt light.

He swayed, as the magic he’d been fighting flowed over him again, as strong as it had been previously.

“Well that worked splendidly.” Wallace hummed.

Damian spun on him, an argument on his lips. The movement made his head worse, the light feeling turning to something too airy and empty. His eyes hurt and he stumbled, catching himself a moment before he fell.

“Whoa, calm down.” Wallace said, “I’m sorry, I’m just frustrated.”

“Tt.” Damian said, focusing more on his breathing than Wallace.

He blinked away dizzy spots and shook his head.

“You have to admit, it was a long shot.” Wallace continued, “Freeze is huge and you’re pretty sma--” his ramble cut off as the man blinked at Damian, crouching to measure him with his hands before he was a blur of freezing air again.

“What _are_ you doing?” Damian snapped when the man returned.

“That air hole, I bet you can fit inside.”

“How is me wiggling in going to help the situation at all?” Damian asked, “If we cannot get this ice broken Richard will still be trapped.”

“You can at least check on him and give him hope. Plus, if he got hit with a cold spell he’s going to need warmth, and you’re the warmest thing we’ve got. He’s always talking about how well you warm him up.”

Damian tried not to let this admission of Richard’s praise make him flustered. There were far more important things than taking delight in the fact that his brother enjoyed something about him.

“I’ll try to get the ice down from the outside, but at this point I’m sure the cavalry is on their way and someone can help crack it open. The important thing is getting to Dick.”

“I agree.”

Damian allowed Wallace to carry him up to the hole they’d discovered. It gave him a moment to prepare himself for what was coming. The prospect of crawling down a tunnel of ice was daunting, and something he would not do in any other circumstance. But Richard was counting on him. Damian would do anything, including die, to ensure his brother’s survival.

He eyed the ice around the opening with a wary glance before sucking in a breath and crouching to begin the long journey through the tunnel.

Tunnel was a kind word for what it was. It must have been a chimney of sorts before Freeze had iced it over. The descent was straight down, with little decline. What made moving through it difficult was the unevenness of the ice, having grown up on natural bumps formed in the rocks.

Damian managed to crawl through a few feet before he reached a spot where he was just a little too big to fit. He clawed at the ice, chipping away at it. He would have attempted to melt it, but the cold was seeping away at him, pulling at his magic and heat, and making it difficult to move, let alone build any kind of flame. He wanted to preserve that energy for any spots more difficult than this.

The ice cracked and fell clinking down and down until Damian couldn’t hear it anymore.

He kept moving. It was a slow, painful, process. The ice sometimes so tight he had to shove and pull, himself forward. It was exhausting and draining and terrible.

And he was freezing.

The cold had seeped past his scales, and down his throat chilling and tearing warmth from him everywhere it could. The only positive thing about this was that the ice did not seemed to be magicked as the front entry had been. There was no spell in place to keep it solid, it had been a rush job, something to keep anyone from escaping again.

Damian could see the bottom, a sliver of white flickering off shadow. He pushed forward, hurrying now to get out to get free to just breathe.

He kicked forward with his legs and felt his wing catch on something, then his stomach. He pushed forward again, but didn’t budge. He could see the opening, could almost reach the end.

A scream of frustration built in his chest. Damian swallowed it down. He released all the air from his lungs and pulled his belly in as close to himself as he could, trying to make himself tiny. Then he pushed forward with both his back legs and pulled, claws hooking into the ice in front of him.

He strained, pushing and pulling with all his might. One leg popped up, and stuck fast, pressed tightly against his side and the too cold ice.

It burned.

Damian wanted to cry. He was _so close_ and he was stuck. Like a child who’d tried to squeeze through a crawl space just a little too small for them. He was wet and scratched and stuck and he wanted to be home with Richard, snuggled by a fire.

He wiggled his leg and bit back a yell as something sharp attempted to dig into it.

That wasn’t going to work. He needed to try something else. As careful as he could he worked his leg back out from where he’d wedged it. Something scraped, tearing as he pulled, and he felt scales be tugged and pop off.

A whimper caught in his chest.

He couldn’t go back. He couldn’t stay stuck here. Richard needed him.

Damian scratched and dug at the ice around him, then built up a fire in his belly, trying to make his body as warm as possible to melt some of the ice around him. He gave it as long as he could before he released a jet of flame, just trying to warm everything.

The fire flickered and danced off the ice. Damian was incredibly glad he was fireproof as it jumped back against him, and the ice, caught as he was in the narrowness of the tunnel.

At last he felt water dripping around him, and his scrambling resulted in him moving just a little. He let the fire go and pushed again, slipping now, down the rest of the slushy ice to tumble out.

Damian landed in a heap of jumbled limbs and dripping ice water. He didn’t bother moving right away. Everything ached. A sick, queasy, feeling rumbled in his stomach. The smell and feel of Freeze’s magic was worse in the cave.

It, plus the fall and the cold, assaulted his senses and made his head throb. His vision was spotty again. He shifted so he was curled on himself, making a tiny ball of his body to conserve as much heat as he could and gather himself to go find Richard.

* * *

Wally paced in front of the ice wall. He couldn’t just stand there and stare at it. It felt useless, like he was doing absolutely nothing while Damian did his very best to find Dick.

He wasn’t doing nothing. He wasn’t. But he also wasn’t sure what he could do to break through the ice on his side. He had options, sure. He could attempt to punch it really fast over and over until he managed to crack through. He could also use friction to rub away at the ice until it melted.

Both those options required extended use of his powers. Not only that, they required him to not only be fast, but have a physical effect on something. That was tricky and exhausting. They were nowhere near home, and he wasn’t sure where Bruce and the others were in comparison to their location. If he wasted all his energy now he might not be able to protect Dick if Freeze returned.

Worse than that, he may not be able to get Dick home if he were seriously injured.

He turned on his heel and tried not to flicker into wind, the need to _move_ and _do_ and _help_ buzzing under his skin. It was tempting the magic in his veins, singing to it to make him air, to help him vibrate so fast he pushed through the wall just so he could see Dick.

That was a bad option. It was as bad as he and Damian both going through the hole to find Dick. It meant they still didn’t have a way out. Wally couldn’t turn Dick into air, and he couldn’t safely vibrate him through anything.

Plus, the stupid ice wall was an unknown. Was it so thick Wally would get stuck halfway through? Was it magicked to prevent magic from moving through it? Or was it just ice, frosty and thin enough a captured elf couldn’t get through, but an actual attempt at breaking could do the trick?

He ran his hands through his hair, mussing the already wind styled locks.

Dick was probably dying and he was worrying about the wall instead of doing something. He felt like the worst friend in the world. But. This was a moment he needed to stop and think. To do things the slow way.

If he didn’t he could get them all killed.

He needed to conserve his energy. That was a fact. The quick exploratory runs he’d made were fine, they were easy and short and did little to drain his body’s resources, especially since he hadn’t actually needed to be corporeal during them. As for carrying Damian to the other entrance, the child was tiny, hardly a burden for him in the short time it took to carry him.

Without knowing how thick the ice itself was, or if it would even melt at all, he might be wasting more time than was necessary.

He pressed a hand to the freezing wall. This he could feel, the cold, and a strange kind of magic, flowing out from it. It wasn’t as repelling to him as it was to Damian. Wind and Ice really didn’t affect each other much. They were more complimentary than anything.

He’d missed the feeling of Freeze’s spell earlier, but here, touching the wall, he could tell magic ran through it. Magic that might make melting it impossible.

What chilled Wally to his core was that Dick had been exposed to this, for days. He’d been hit with a spell from this same dragon. This freezing, probably unmeltable magic.

The knowledge twisted against his stomach like a knife.

His best friend had been trapped by this monster for days. Trapped and freezing. Dick was strong, and hearty. He rarely cared about the cold or heat, but he was injured. That didn’t pair well with freezing temperatures.

Wally stopped at the door and lifted a stone, pounding it against the ice in an attempt to gauge just how thick it was. He didn’t even get an echo. Just a click click click and some cold splattering his face.

He let the rock tumble to the ground with a grumble.

Anyone else would have thought the next thing through for at least a minute. Wally wasn’t anyone else, not with his options running out, not with Dick still stuck in a cave with only Damian as a source of heat and protection.

He flattened his hands against the ice and rubbed. Focusing everything on keeping his palms solid, but moving them as fast as he could, as fast as it took to start to melt the ice under his freezing palms.

Water formed under his hands, sparking hope in his chest. He pulled back to examine his work. He’d made small indents where he’d been rubbing, with liquid pooling and dribbling out of them.

Wally had enough time to grin at his achievement before the ice froze over again. The water, moving on its own to refill the indents, leaving the smallest of nicks where water had gotten on his hands.

He punched the wall in frustration, the thud dull as it absorbed the blow.

The punch turned into Wally leaning against the ice, both hands splayed against it. He pressed his forehead to it, ignoring the way the cold started to burn his skin and wisps of chilly air licked at his hair and skin

“I’m sorry.” he said, the words angry and broken, “I’m so sorry, Dick.”

Behind him, the grass and brush rustled. The noise was louder than an animal, and less even than the wind. Wally spun ready to defend himself and the cave if it was Freeze returning.

Donna stepped out of the forest and into full view, a huge sword held ready in her hands.

**Author's Note:**

> I know I'm usually crap at updating on a schedule, but chapters of this should be out once a week until it's done.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Hey Brother (you were mine first)](https://archiveofourown.org/works/15153626) by [Allie_el](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Allie_el/pseuds/Allie_el)
  * [Surprise Visit](https://archiveofourown.org/works/18315026) by [Lwoorl](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lwoorl/pseuds/Lwoorl)




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